U17 women must step up for Japan
South Africa U17 women’s national team coach Simphiwe Dludlu has admitted that there are certain areas they must improve on after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Mexico in their opening match of the World Cup in Uruguay on Tuesday.
As a result of the goalless draw‚ Bantwana have earned their first point of the tournament following a disappointing campaign in 2010 where they lost all their three group stages matches in Trinidad and Tobago.
“As the game continued‚ we started to gain confidence by attacking and defending together as a team‚” said Dludlu.
“There are some elements in our game that we have to improve on going into the next game‚ but I am happy with the performance.
“They showed heart and fight out there on the field, even though in the last 20 minutes of the game it could have been better.”
Bantwana can’t afford to dwell on the two vital points they dropped in Maldonado as they shift their focus to the second match of the tournament against Japan on Friday night.
“We had two debutants in the starting line-up and it was a good occasion to see how they handle pressure of a demanding match like this. I think they did well for us.
“Our focus now is on the second match against Japan, and we will have to improve on some of the things that we did not get right‚” she said.
Group B appears to be there for the taking as rivals Brazil and Japan also played to a goalless draw in their match.
A victory for Bantwana would put them in a good position to progress to the knockout stage.
One of the key areas that Dludlu will focus on during her planning for the Japan match is on attack, as Bantwana only managed one shot on target against Mexico.
The Mexicans enjoyed 59% of the possession on the night.
The responsibility of getting the much-needed goals will fall on the shoulders of attackers Fikile Magama‚ Serenity Warner‚ Miche Minnies and Sphumelele Shamase, who fired blanks in the opener against Mexico.