Bantwana head for event as favourites

The last two weeks have been all about hard work for coach Simphiwe Dludlu (right) and her Bantwana charges, who have been preparing for the inaugural Cosafa Under-17 Women’s Championship, which starts in Mauritius today.

The South African team departed for Mauritius yesterday, where they are set to compete in Group B alongside the Seychelles, Botswana and Madagascar.

Bantwana go into this tournament high in confidence after winning two of their practice matches against JVW FC and Soweto select 3-1 and 6-0 respectively. But there are still some concerns for coach Dludlu.

“We are on the right track and the game is the best teacher, playing these friendlies has shown us where we need to improve. There are areas where we are strong and it is about how we can improve on them so that we use them as our weapon in order to win games,” said the coach.

Dludlu, who led Bantwana to the Under-17 Fifa World Cup in Uruguay last year says the bar is high for her team as they are expected to do well in the Cosafa Cup and go on to qualify for the next global competition.

“The motivation firstly is that this team comes from the World Cup, so the bar is very high and we need to make sure whatever we are doing we are aiming at being better to qualify for the next World Cup and do better at the Cosafa.”

Bantwana face the Seychelles in their opening game tomorrow, followed by a clash with Botswana two days later, before wrapping up the group stage games with a meeting against Madagascar on September 25. All the matches will take place at the St Francois Xavier Stadium.

The tournament runs until September 29.