Bantwana ready for the World Cup
Tshepo Ntsoelengoe
Since qualifying for the Under-17 Fifa World Cup back in February this year, national women’s Under-17 coach Simphiwe Dluldlu and her technical team have been on a mission to get the squad up to speed and make sure the players are ready for the global tournament.
With the squad set to depart for Uruguay tomorrow, the junior national women’s team coach named 21-players yesterday who will represent the nation at the competition.
With less than three weeks to go before the start of the tournament, Dludlu believes all the camps they held in the last few months, playing in the Brics tournament and going on a tour to Chile, have borne fruit as they now know where they stand when it comes to competing against teams from around the world.
“Previously we were just making sure we had our squad of 35 players to send to Fifa and ensuring we had covered our bases and if anything had happened we didn’t have to start afresh.
“It was a continuation of building the structure of the team because we qualified in February, and to have so many gaps the kids tend to forget what the mission is and how the team perform,” said Dludlu.
“Also, we didn’t play so many international friendly games ... it was just the matter of tailoring the team and that we knew our plans clearly and how are we would approach the World Cup and how we want to prepare. So far it has been fruitful because when we went to the Brics tournament we could tell where we are.”
Bantwana are in Group B and will play their opener against Mexico on November 13, followed by a clash against Japan three days later, before wrapping the group stage fixtures against Brazil on November 19.