“We arrived on August 28 and had our first session the next day. On August 31 we kicked off our tournament.
“In the final we were tested the way we anticipated because we knew Zambia were going to try to get on the ball from the back and would be able to launch attacks between our centre backs and fullbacks and try to find Barbra Banda.”
Dludlu said if SA had assigned one player to mark Banda they would have shot themselves in the foot.
“We said to all the players 'if she comes close to you, you pick her up'. We shouldn’t shift responsibility and I think all those players played for each other.
“I think we created more obvious goal-scoring opportunities than they did and it had to be a world-class player like her [Banda] to score the winning goal.”
Dludlu said nobody gave her young players a chance against a well-structured and experienced Zambia, but she was pleased with the determination and fight her troops put up against the winners.
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Dludlu praises young Banyana for Cosafa performance
Image: Richard Huggard/Gallo Images
Banyana Banyana stand-in coach Simphiwe Dludlu has applauded her young stars for their performance in the Cosafa Women’s Championship.
SA suffered a 1-0 extra time loss to Zambia in the final at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Gqeberha on Sunday. Their second-placed finish was an improvement on their fourth spot in 2021.
Team captain and goal-scoring machine Barbra Banda broke the deadlock in the second half of extra time when she scored the winning goal for Zambia.
Dludlu, the under-17 national women’s coach, took charge of the second string, emerging combination at Cosafa as Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis and her first string team played last week’s two friendlies against Brazil.
She said she was pleased with how her young players grew in the Cosafa Cup.
“I am very happy with our progress because I think this is a team that is definitely showing strides of progression,” said the 34-year-old.
“We came into this tournament with zero preparation. We literally had only two days to prepare.
“We arrived on August 28 and had our first session the next day. On August 31 we kicked off our tournament.
“In the final we were tested the way we anticipated because we knew Zambia were going to try to get on the ball from the back and would be able to launch attacks between our centre backs and fullbacks and try to find Barbra Banda.”
Dludlu said if SA had assigned one player to mark Banda they would have shot themselves in the foot.
“We said to all the players 'if she comes close to you, you pick her up'. We shouldn’t shift responsibility and I think all those players played for each other.
“I think we created more obvious goal-scoring opportunities than they did and it had to be a world-class player like her [Banda] to score the winning goal.”
Dludlu said nobody gave her young players a chance against a well-structured and experienced Zambia, but she was pleased with the determination and fight her troops put up against the winners.
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READ MORE:
Zambia beat Dludlu's young Banyana to lift Cosafa Cup
Brazil raise questions for Banyana, Ellis and Safa ahead of World Cup
‘We have a lot of work to do’, says Ellis after Banyana’s thrashing by Brazil
Brazil hand Banyana a lesson and don’t stop to see if hosts are taking notes
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