Cape Town - Like the many players who will be hoping to get scouted and earn professional contracts abroad when Banyana Banyana take on France in an international friendly this Sunday, Desiree Ellis will also be hoping to make a big move.
The Banyana interim coach would like to coach South Africa’s women senior national team on a permanent basis. But, as it stands, she hasn’t received word from her bosses on whether they would like to keep her or not.
Ellis reckons a win against the world’s No 3 side France, at Saint-Denis, Reunion, on Sunday (7pm kickoff), will be enough to convince her employees that she’s the right person for the job.
“A good result will definitely do that,” a smiling Ellis said at training yesterday. “But I’m still here and that’s promising (enough). All I can do now is to prepare the team and make sure they execute the plan we’ve set out for them. The rest will be up to the powers that be (whether to hire her or not).”
Ellis stated that finishing was something Banyana really needed to work on, if they are to do better in next year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (also a World Cup qualifier).
“At the AWC we missed about 80 scoring chances, scoring just five. The plan is to get this team to have their shots on target and hopefully score more goals.”