Under 17 women’s soccer team coach Kangwa Kaluba says the team is under duress to emulate the senior side when they participate at this year’s inaugural COSAFA tournament in Mauritius.

Kaluba told Goal Diggers that he would use this year’s tournament billed for September 13-22 to assess the girls’ response to international pressure.

He said the girls have so far responded well to the different types of play he intended to use at the tournament.

“The preparation for the COSAFA for the girls is going on very well. [They] are adapting to how we want them to play and how we want them to approach each and every game that comes. And also, we have been working on strengthening our systems. We believe that when you are going for a tournament, we should not have less than two systems of how of play. But then, we are working on three different styles of play and this is really helping and the girls are responding very well,” said Kaluba.

“…we don’t have any pressure considering that our elder sisters, in terms of management and in terms of play, have been doing very well. So it’s not only pressure to the children but to me as a coach. But what we have to understand is that the U17 is a developmental process and we have to know that we have got a group of young girls that are going to represent us…especially focus on the four-year programme that we have developed together with the technical directorate…So it’s the first time for us to see how the girls can respond to international pressure.”