Dludlu elaborates on Banyana selection

An extremely youthful Banyana Banyana side get their COSAFA Women™s Championship campaign underway this afternoon and coach Simphiwe Dludlu has explained her selection criteria for the tournament. 

Dludlu has been tasked with leading a second-string national team outfit while the senior side is occupied with back-to-back friendly matches against Brazil, who arrived in the country yesterday, at Orlando Stadium and then Moses Mabhida.

READ: Brazil bring big guns for Banyana

The coach says making a final decision on players that can one day emulate their teammates who were crowned African champions in July was not taken lightly.

"Picking a team to make sure they come and compete here, and one that will be ready psychologically, emotionally and physically is never easy," said Dludlu."Normally we watch the games and analyse matches [before selection] but putting a team together that will come in and play in a specific way, the Hollywoodbets Super League made it easy for us to be able to go and pick players.

"We've got a couple of 16-year-olds in the team, there's Sinazo who's from here in PE, she plays for City Lads, we've got a 17-year-old who is the current U17 captain.

"The oldest player is probably 33, which is Nothando Vilakazi and she's been with Banyana - 129 caps and she comes back into the team because she plays a specialised position, left-footed players are scarce to find in the country and in her position.

"So, we tried to make sure we bring together experience and a lot of young players - I've got 17 players under-25, so that already makes me excited because there are a couple of players that have been in U17 and U20.

"So, we're trying to make sure that the conveyor belt from the youth teams also comes up to the senior national team - Linda Mothlalo is 23, [Bongeka] Gamede is 24, Thembi Kgatlana is only 26, Karabo Dhlamini is 21, Noxolo [Cesane] is 21, so there's that range of age where we are looking at that can make an impact in women's football and for the South African women's national team.

"So, I don't know about it being easy to pick those players because there's a plethora of players that are great, and we just needed to make sure we pick the right ones that are doing well in their clubs and can fit in and get us results in this tournament."

By Mazola Molefe