Dludlu about to make history
FORMER BANYANA Banyana captain Simphiwe Dludlu is on the verge of making history by becoming the first former player of the women’s senior national team to take her country to the World Cup.
Dludlu, coach of the Under-17 women’s national team that has one foot in the World Cup, looks set to return from Morocco with a historic triumph that would take Bantwana to the World Cup that will be staged in Uruguay later this year. Bantwana’s 2010 generation was coached by Solly Luvhengo to their first appearance in the World Cup while Joseph Mkhonza and Dutch coach Vera Pauw guided Banyana to the 2012 and 2016 Olympics Games respectively.
This generation looks set to give South African the fourth women’s team to qualify for a global competition. Bantwana will face Morocco tomorrow at 4.30pm, in Sale at Stade Boubker Amar with a 5-1 lead from the first leg of the last round of qualifiers.
“Taking this team to the World Cup would mean a lot for me because it is part of my journey that started as a young girl in Alexandria who went to the academy, the High Performance Centre (HPC),” Dludlu said. “I have risen from being just a player there to coaching the HPC team and our squad has seven girls from there. I grew up in that academy, played for the Under-20s, played and captained Banyana, coached at university level and now I am here, coaching the Under17 women’s national team. It’s been a journey of hard work, facing challenges head on and being able to come out stronger and say I will keep going. Even if we weren’t on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup, my heart is still pounding for women’s development. Being in this position says that I must continue being a pioneer in women’s football. I have to make a difference in the lives of these girls.”
Bantwana arrived in Casablanca on Wednesday. They first acclimatised to the difference in time zones before holding their first training session. This afternoon they will get to feel the match venue before their date with destiny tomorrow. Dludlu is guarding against complacency which is unlikely especially after the South African Football Association (Safa) president, Danny Jordaan, promised the team a trip to Spain should they qualify for the World Cup.
“The team has grown so much because when we went to Botswana to play, half of the players were not talking to each other because they were afraid of asking each other how you are doing and even greeting each other,” Dludlu said. “That has changed drastically. This is a team on a mission, a mission to play good football. We are striving to get them to be a welloiled machine.” IS SHE FIT FOR IT? Desiree Ellis has done pretty well as caretaker coach of Banyana Banyana, winning the Cosafa Cup and top of the Caf standings. Buyt SA’s most capped player and former Banyana striker Portia Modise believes Ellis is not ready yet. IN a chain reaction of press conferences over the last three weeks, the Football Transformation Forum (FTF) yesterday declared the race for the SA Football Association (Safa) presidency over.
This structure, instrumental in getting incumbent Danny Jordaan elected in September 2013, responded to their detractors by announcing that 40 of the 52 Safa regions had nominated Jordaan for a second term.
Although the nomination deadline is a week and a half from now, FTF secretary-general Mzwandile Maforvane, also a member of the Safa national executive committee, said there was no question about who the president would be on March 24.
Asked if the overwhelming support for Jordaan would not change overnight, Maforvane and fellow members of the Safa NEC argued this was unlikely as a decision taken by a region is unanimous and would take some doing to overturn.
“Of course these nominations have also been sent to auditors. The regions volunteered this information because we want to kill this argument that these elections are about the presidency only,” said Mxolisi Sibam, an NEC member who is also the president of the Buffalo City Safa region.
“The national executive committee has 36 people. We have dealt with the presidency and now we need to determine who will be the other 35 members. We want to remind everyone that this election is not just about one person, but also those who will lead alongside him during his term in office.”
FTF has been quarrelling with the recently formed National Football Consultative Forum (NFCF), which is made up of former – and some have argued “disgruntled” – Safa NEC members, over the eligibility of those who want to oppose Jordaan in the elections next month.
NFCF want businessman Tokyo Sexwale to be the challenger, but the former Gauteng Premier, apart from being ineligible because he is not a member of Safa, was undecided last week and seemed only interested in being the peacemaker.
Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana had put his hand up before saying he’d back Sexwale should he agree to run, while former Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has also made an attempt to be a candidate, but failed to announce his campaign last week when he reportedly couldn’t find a venue and was threatened with legal action by the SA Masters and Legends Association, which he is a part of.
“These people are just using the buzz word of today, which is ‘unity’ by saying Safa is divided. Where is the division if 40 regions are saying they want Danny Jordaan to be elected president? It also disappointing because they know the process to follow to voice their complaints, but do it through the press.”