Bantwana could teach Bafana Bafana a solid lesson
● It was begging to be smashed and the chance never went abegging.
Sliced.
Bashed.
Blasted.
Whichever way.
One way or another.
It had to go in.
And it did.
From a distance.
About 30 metres.
Magical.
The goalkeeper?
She had to clutch at straws in the air. She had to do something.
She had to be seen to be doing something.
Her something was nothing.
She can protest profusely that she caught a mosquito.
We won’t vent vociferously against that because, frankly, we don’t care.
It doesn’t matter.
What matters is that that goal, by Sibulele Holweni, ensured that Bantwana Bantwana, the under-17 women’s national soccer side, will appear at their second-ever World Cup since Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.
That 1-0 victory (6-1 on aggregate) last Saturday at the Stade Boubker Ammar secured South Africa’s place as one of the three countries that will represent Africa in South America. Cameroon and Ghana are the other two at the Fifa Junior World Cup in Uruguay from November 13 to December 1.
Even more remarkable is how they navigated their route to qualification.
It was done without them tasting defeat in four matches and opponents guillotined in a glut of goals along the journey.
After getting a bye in the preliminary round, Bantwana began their campaign against neighbours Botswana in December. Simphiwe Dludlu and Maud Khumalo’s girls romped to a 5-2 first- round away victory. A fortnight later they finished the job in the second leg with a tennis score, 6-4, win at Dobsonville Stadium for an 11-6 aggregate score.
An avalanche of goals followed when Bantwana encountered Morocco at the Dobsonville Stadium at the beginning of the month.
The Moroccans were left morose with a 5-1 defeat, as the South Africans sent a menacing message that they were hellbent on travelling to the land of Luis Suarez and Edison Cavanni.
That these girls are made of stern stuff is without question. The only trouble is that when South African teams arrive at a World Cup, they tend to wilt and fail to shake off the group-stage syndrome.
It is the sickness the sisters get from their brothers.
On three attempts (France 98, Korea-Japan 2002 and SA 2010) Bafana bowed out in the first round and gained the dubious distinction of being the first host country to fail to progress beyond the group stage.
Only the under-20s, Amajita, flipped the script by going a step further, losing in the last 16 at the 2009 World Cup held in Egypt. And that was by virtue of being one of the four best third-placed teams.
Amajimbos, the under-17s, came a cropper in the group stage in Chile 2015.
The under-23s, who were called Amaglug-glug back when they were sponsored by Sasol, could not pump up their performance beyond the group stage at Sydney 2000 and Rio 2016.
Ditto Banyana Banyana at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics.
The last time Bantwana qualified for the World Cup was in 2010 in Trinidad and Tobago.
For coach Dludlu, a former Banyana captain, it was certainly one of the finest hours of her coaching career. Fitting for her to become the first former female player to lead SA to a World Cup. She smashed it, sliced it, bashed it. Salute.
Speaking of former skippers, the South African Football Association finally converted Desiree Ellis from the status of caretaker coach to permanent. Congratulations to Desiree, who already has a Cosafa Cup trophy which led to Banyana being crowned team of the year at the Confederation of African Football awards. Tjovitjo!
Twitter: @bbkunplugged99
Trouble is SA teams fail to shake off World Cup group-stage syndrome