Dludlu impressed as she scouts for U-17 talent

The youngsters being paraded at the ongoing Sasol League National Championship at King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban have impressed SA U-17 coach Simphiwe Dludlu.

Dludlu and her technical team are working around the clock in their quest to assemble a formidable Bantwana squad, aiming to qualify for the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup in India in October.

With most of her best players having graduated to the U-20 national team, the Bantwana coach is trying to rebuild the squad from scratch after she called up 29 players for a training camp last week.

“The most exciting part for me is I see teams bringing even younger players [to the tournament in Durban]. I saw a couple of U-15s and U-16s who have been given a chance to play,” Dludlu told the media.

“So for me, that’s exciting. [It's] one of the reasons I’m here and the game is evolving and becoming better and better. Goalkeepers are getting better, though you can see we are still lacking in terms of goalkeeping in SA for women’s games as well.

“You see the goalkeeper coaches not being there, but from the warm-ups to how they play, there is so much structure and organisation.

“This tells you why the best teams in the provinces are here and I see a lot of improvement and I’m excited to see what the rest of the tournament is going to bring.”

Dludlu said that it has been tough to assemble a squad as clubs were not playing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Covid pulled a big one on us. Amateur football, especially, took a back seat and now teams are starting to come on board properly, so those girls missed out on two years of playing proper football,” she said.

“It’s extremely tough because only one player from my previous team is in the current U-17 squad.

“Other countries are improving because Covid restrictions for them were not as tough as SA, so they are a bit ahead.”

Yesterday's results: Tswelelang De’ Scorpion 0-2 Croesus Ladies; Royal Wizards 1-8 Vasco da Gama.