South Africa U-17 women’s head coach, Ntombifuthi Khumalo has acknowledged Nigeria’s superiority following her team’s elimination from the 2024 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
Reacting to their 2-0 second-leg defeat in Ikenne, which saw Nigeria progress to the next qualification round, Khumalo admitted disappointment but remained proud of her team’s effort.
“I’m disappointed as we didn’t make it for the next stage in World Cup but I’m also proud of my girls, the performance and everything.”
Khumalo recognized the gap in experience, noting that many of her players were playing at this level for the first time.
She admitted that Nigeria was the better team, but the match provided an opportunity for her side to grow.
“It’s new for them, this is international stage, some of them you see they try their best but the Nigeria were the best team, they had the best win.”
She also pointed out defensive weaknesses, particularly in dealing with set pieces, as a key lesson for her team.
“First leg we discovered that our best defense were shaky then we fixed that, that’s how we so we conceded the goal in free kick corner so it’s where I think we need to go back and fix those set pieces.”
“Because how we conceded two goals in the same area, how they cross the ball we failed to manage that that moment otherwise the game was they never score the goal in an open play.”
With Nigeria advancing, South Africa’s journey ends, but Khumalo is determined to use this experience to build a stronger squad for future competitions.
