‘Africa’s women lagging behind’
Africa women lagging behind
Posted: 2008-11-12 12:52
In terms of skill and progress South African and indeed African women’s soccer is still light years behind the rest of the world.
So says Banyana Banyana manager and technical adviser Fran Hilton-Smith who last night returned from New Zealand where she was attending Fifa’s inaugural Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
“It was an eye-opener,” Hilton-Smith told KickOff.com.
“We thought at Under-17 level the standard would be very low, but instead it was absolutely excellent, like it was in the Under-20’s.
“Technically and tactically the teams were amazing. The spectators, media and everybody was fascinated at their performances and the players showed a development beyond their age.
“Japan has the technical and tactical ability I have never seen at a Women’s World Cup, they were so good they passed the ball to each other without looking. The future looks good at junior level and there are no weak countries anymore.
“Costa Rica and Colombia had so much technique it was like you were watching the Brazilians, it was beautiful to watch.”
Hilton-Smith, who was in New Zealand as a member of Fifa’s Technical Study Group team which analyses matches and compiles technical reports for the mother body, was forced to return before the competition’s conclusion in order to accompany Banyana to the biennial African Women’s Championship to be held in Equatorial Guinea starting on Sunday.
Banyana leave for West Africa today.
“Ghana and Nigeria, and especially Nigeria, were unlucky not to qualify for the quarterfinals. England narrowly beat Nigeria who had 99 percent of the play but couldn’t score. The problem for Africa in women’s soccer is that we play one competition in two years and that is not enough. We need to play more.
“Three Asian countries – North Korea, Korea Republic and Japan - got through to the quarterfinals and the North Koreans are in the semi-finals and they are the reigning Under-20 champions.
“The thing is the Asians are doing a lot of homework. They are small people in stature but they make up for that with their skill and tactics. Their skill-level, the series of movements are so well practiced it defies logic for such young girls, it’s like you are watching Brazil. They have fantastic programmes.
“Japan, though they were beaten by England in the last eight, won most of their games by big margins and beat a big nation like France 7-2.”
Things are not looking up at the moment, so what must Africa do if the world is to be conquered one day on the feminine soccer side?
“We have to wake up in Africa,” Hilton-Smith says matter-of-factly.
“Even here in South Africa there is no structured football. If we have to compete at World level, we must start at school level with under-15 and under-17 soccer. If they don’t start early, then they can’t start at 16.”
North Korea meet England and traditional giants Germany and the United States face off in the semifinals in Christchurch tomorrow with the final taking place at Auckland’s North Harbour stadium on Sunday morning South African time.
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