Basetsana head coach, Sheryl Botes said she was happy with the progress made in the last two days as the team prepares for a crucial FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014 first leg qualifier against Tanzania scheduled for 7 December

Several key players are expected to join the team in camp at the Edenvale Football grounds as they continue with preparations for this match.

“In the two days we’ve been together, preparations have gone well and we expect things to shape up once our key players join us this afternoon. The five that will be joining us had club commitments such as the Sasol Championships as well as the USSA games. Somehow this has affected our preparations because we needed to build the team around them. Hopefully in future we’ll have all the players here at the same time.

“But what we’re doing now is preparing these players so that they know what to expect and what to do without the aid of the players that faced Botswana in the first round,” said Botes.

Botes has called in additional players to fill in for the players such as Robyn Moodaly and key players from the Bantwana squad who sustained injuries in the U17 Women’s World Cup qualifier against Zambia played two weeks ago.

“We will be without the services of Robyn who’s recovering from an ankle injury she sustained in the first leg against Botswana. She is also scheduled to write an exam sometime this week and we are hoping she will be ready when we go into the second leg,” said Botes.

The coach added that Drishana and Chamelle were sent for scans to ascertain the extent of injuries they picked up in the qualifier against Zambia.

“I’ve brought in additional players that would cover for them while they are recovering but they are in our plans for future games like the return leg against Tanzania and beyond,” said Botes.

Basetsana were scheduled to play a practice match against Sasol League side, Croesus at the Edenvale Football grounds on Tuesday afternoon to give the technical an overview of what to work on ahead of the first leg against Tanzania.

“We have worked again on our defensive concepts because we’ve got fairly new players in the team, some coming from Bantwana. We need to teach them what to do in terms of defensive and offensive play, which is what we finalized this morning. With our match this afternoon, we are hoping they will apply what we have worked on over the past two days,” added the Basetsana mentor.

Basetsana will face Tanzania in the first leg to be played at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, 7 December. Kick-off is at 16h00.