Head coach of the South African U17 Women’s National Team (Bantwana), Simphiwe Dludlu, says she is proud of her charges despite losing three nil to Ethiopia in the first leg of the third round of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifier on Friday, 12 April 2022.
The clash took place at the Wits Stadium in Johannesburg.
Bantwana were playing their first ever international match following a bye in the second round – this after the world football governing body, FIFA, suspended Kenya from all football activities.
“Finally, my fifteen and sixteen year olds get a chance to earn a first international cap. All of them are in tears as they think they lost because they didn’t do well. Until we get to watch the match and see, there were a lot of great moments that are not expected from 15 year olds.
We lost the game because of the maturity of the opposition, because of their stature and because of their fluidity,” said Dludlu.
Ethiopia on the other hand were into their third match of the qualifiers after two games against Uganda in the previous stage.
Bantwana’s opponents looked the better in all the departments and it is not surprise they registered such a high score line, also aided by mistakes from the South Africans.
“I wish that South Africa could brew young players that can grow so quick, can be so mature at 15 or 16. The whole team of Ethiopia are born in 2006 which means they are 16 this year going to the world cup and they play with so much speed, so much zeal, so much understanding with each other. I wish I could go to Ethiopia and get exactly what they are doing so I can bring it back to South African and do even more,” added the Bantwana mentor.
Two goals from Eyerus Tulu and Kumneger Kebede, and an own goal from Ntando Phahla were enough to stun the hosts, going down 3-0 and making the road ahead in the qualifiers look bleak.
But Dludlu says there were many positives despite the defeat, adding that she remains proud of her team.
“Anybody looking at what Ethiopia looked like and what we looked like, would have expected us to get 10 (goals against us). We fought, we ran for everything, we created chances but because it is 15 and 16 year olds, they are still young and not match fit at that level, and also couldn’t capitalise on certain opportunities,” said the former Banyana Banyana mentor.
“We made mistakes they capitalised, they made mistakes we couldn’t capitalise because we don’t have the experience to punish them when they do mistakes. But I am proud of what they have done. We had only eight days to prepare, these girls are rocks. They are young heroines because they showed character and they played with their hearts.”
Dludlu concludes that the greatest setback was the inability to play the against Kenya.
“If we were able to play that match, we would have come into this encounter against Ethiopia with match fitness, understanding the bounce of the ball and the field. What you get at training is not the same as in a match situation,” said Dludlu.
“We came into this fixture knowing that we are one down against Ethiopia – they played two incredible games against Uganda home and away, and today they showed improvement from those encounters. We didn’t have history coming into the game so that really affected us big time.”
Head coach of the visiting Ethiopia team, Endalkachew Chaka, says there is a lot to play for in the second leg.
“Look we have played only one leg, the match is 90 minutes long and anything can happen. We cannot take South Africa lightly just because we won 3-0 away. I will speak to my players and tell them to forget about the past match and focus on the one at hand – what we can safely say is that as per our plans, we are still firmly on track on our mission to get to the World Cup, but we are not there yet. However, it is in our hands,” said Chaka.
The second leg will be played later this month.
By Matlhomola Morake
