Bantwana are gunning for gold, insists Dludlu

Simphiwe Dludlu’s Bantwana will be hoping to start their Under-17 Cosafa Women’s Championship on a positive note when they clash with Seychelles at St Francois Xavier Stadium in Mauritius today.

Looking at the inaugural tournament, the Bantwana coach doesn’t really know what to expect at the competition, where the South Africans will face some of their opponents for the first time at this level.

But she is banking on her experience of coaching the national women’s Under-20 team at the previous Cosafa Cup held in South Africa just a few months ago.

“The bar is very high and teams are all there to compete and want to win. It’s the first tournament and I think every team there is a good side. Also, the teams in our group are also good teams, we haven’t seen some of them play, like Seychelles and Madagascar,” said Dludlu.

“But I believe they have good structures, coming from the Southern Region as well. But we are taking motivation and notes from the Cosafa Under-20 women’s championships. This is what the tournament looks like and we prepare ourselves in that manner.”

Dludlu went on to say they are gunning for gold, but they will take every game as it comes with her team expected to do well, having competed at last year’s Under-17 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Uruguay.

“We are striving to get to that gold medal, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I am realistic in saying we will just take it one game at a time and make sure we do our best,” she added.