Dakalo Mafumo sad to miss out on historic U17 Women’s World Cup

This comes after Bantwana failed to qualify for the global showpiece following a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Kenya in the third and final round of the African qualifiers.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Mafumo admitted that her side struggled to cope with Kenya’s speed and endurance.

“I’m a bit disappointed because I really wanted to qualify and experience what it’s like to play at the World Cup. Their speed and endurance made it difficult for us because they were faster than us. It was a really tough match and, because of our mistakes we got punished,” said Mafumo.

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South Africa advanced through the first round via a walkover against the Central African Republic before beating Tanzania 2-0 on aggregate to reach the final qualifying round, where they suffered a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Kenya. 

Despite the disappointment, Mafumo believes the team can take lessons from the campaign and return stronger in next year’s qualifiers.

“I think our performance was good and we improved with every game we played. It was just unfortunate that the results didn’t favour us. We played well against Tanzania and unfortunately failed to get past Kenya, but we have taken lessons from this experience and believe we will come back stronger,” concluded Mafumo.