UWC duo in tough football battle

Two UWC students are set to lead the battle when the South African Women’s National Under 20 team (Basetsana) takes on Nigeria in a FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualifier at Dobsonville Stadium on Saturday, 25 January.

BA students Kaylin Swart and Vuyo Mkhabela (who was voted the UWC’s Sportswoman of the Year in 2013) are among the 20-member squad engaged in the crucial second leg encounter. The South Africans have a mountain to climb after losing 6-0 in the first leg in Abuja on 11 January this year.

The winner on aggregate will join either Ghana or Equatorial Guinea as two African representatives at the seventh edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup set for Canada from 5 to 24 August 2014.

The Falconets of Nigeria are a force to be reckoned with in continental football, having qualified for every U20 women’s World Cup since 2002. They finished as silver medallists in the 2010 competition hosted by Germany, and were semi-finalists in the 2012 competition in Japan.

Swart, who is the captain of Basetsana, admitted that the Nigerians were superior in the first leg. “They were a level above us and everything didn’t go according to our plans,” said the Port Elizabeth-born Swart.

But Swart believes that they can turn things around come Saturday.

“We understand that the mountain is high to climb, but we can do it. We’ve learnt from our mistakes, worked hard to fix them, and we are now ready to move forward and do our best to qualify.”