The South African U-17 Women’s National Team (Bantwana) are through to the next second round of the African FIFA U-17 Women World Cup qualifiers without even kicking a ball.
This comes after the world football governing body, FIFA suspended both Kenya and Zimbabwe, citing government interference.
The South Africans received a bye in the preliminary stages.
Following the walkover in the first round, they will now face the winner between Uganda and Ethiopia in the third round.
Simphiwe Dludlu’s team kicked off their training camp on Thursday, 24 February in preparation for the Kenya fixture.
‘’We received notification of Kenya’s suspension but we will remain active and in camp for a short while as we look forward to building a formidable side that must qualify for the World Cup. We were excited and looking forward to playing Kenya,’’ said Dludlu on the www.safa.net website.
Bantwana played a practice match against the University of Johannesburg team on Sunday, 27 February 2022.
After taking 2-1 lead at halftime, they won 6-5.
“So far it has been very positive. The three teams that we put together – of 17 year olds, 16 year olds and 15 year olds – I can safely say there is positive direction that we have taken. There is still a lot of work to be done and as they are going back to their teams I would need them to continue working hard in terms of fitness and basics of football because a lot of them have just been introduced to the international level,” concluded the former Banyana Banyana captain.
“We looking forward to seeing what the next couple of months will bring us in terms of our preparations as we try to qualify for the World Cup in India.”
Bantwana conclude their training camp on Monday (28, February).
By Matlhomola Morake
