Bantwana have maintained their 100 percent win record at the inaugural COSAFA Women’s U-17 Championships after beating Madagascar 3-1 in Mauritius on Wednesday, 25 September 2019.
The South Africans were without talismanic captain Jessica Wade through injury however the lasses once again made their intentions clear on match day.
Nelly Gamede opened the scoring midway through the first half with a long-range effort that cannoned in off the crossbar, before adding as second from the penalty spot. Oyisa Marhasi took her tournament tally to nine when she raced onto a through-ball and slipped the ball under Madagascar goalkeeper Chrystina Faraniaina.
Madagascar barely threatened the South African goal but won a penalty with a little more than 10 minutes to go, which Marie Raveloarisoa finished with aplomb.
Speaking on the encounter and the changes that were made to the South African squad, head coach Simphiwe Dludlu pointed out the importance of giving all her players a chance to be on the field.
“It was a good game of football. We made a lot of changes into our team, especially in key positions but all of it was because it’s development for us, so we have to make sure that we give players a chance to play because if we don’t, we only chase the score and only chase to have the same players on the field, then we’re missing the point of development,” Dludlu told SAFA Media after the match.
“That’s why we bring 20 players so we can give all of them the experience. That’s how you build, that’s the only way that they can get the experience,” she added.
After scoring three goals and conceding one, coach Dludlu had this to say, “With the score, it was expected because we sacrificed the fluidity into how we will play and how we will score in our formation, we sacrificed that over giving players the opportunity to play and have the experience because some of them might not be at a certain level where they can compete for 90 minutes.
“Slowly we are introducing them into the game at the highest level, so I think Madagascar played really good football. They had a plan and they stuck to their plan and it worked for them,” she ended.
South Africa will now face Zambia in the semi-final and having been the only side to come through the pool stages with a 100 percent record, they will go into the knockout rounds with confidence. Their opponents on the other hand have shown excellent form as well and have only dropped points after a 1-1 draw with Uganda in their opening match.
Photo 1 Caption: Shakira Tatum O’Malley of South Africa during the 2019 COSAFA Women’s U-17 Championships game between Madagascar and South Africa at St Francois Xavier Stadium in Port Louis, Mauritius on 25 September 2019. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
With editing by gsport
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