Johannesburg — Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says their friendly match against rivals Zambia on Saturday will help them to gauge their readiness for the back-to-back Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (Awcon) qualifier against Algeria in the final round.
After thrashing Mozambique 13-0 in the second round of the Awcon qualifier, away and at home, Banyana will be eager to book their tickets to the finals when they clash with Algeria at home next Friday, the 18th, and away on the 23rd.
Qualifying for the global showpiece would ensure that the South Africans hit two birds with one stone: they’d upstage their male counterpart who failed to qualify for the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) that were in Cameroon.
Moreover, qualifying for Awcon would mean that Banyana will get a chance to qualify for their second World Cup in a row. They made their maiden World Cup qualification in 2019 after finishing second in the Awcon in Ghana back in 2018.
But before Ellis’ charges can even think about the Awcon or the World Cup, they’ll have to get past the Algerians first. To ensure that they achieve that feat, they’ve set a preparations match against Zambia in Lusaka on Saturday afternoon.
“There are no friendlies. And it’s always good to play. That will allow us to test the new players that are here. You can't go to the next level if you don’t test players. In the past, we used the COSAFA Cup, but we have this game now,” Ellis said.
“We know they are a quality team and a lot of their players did play at the COSAFA Cup. Some of their players, like ours, because Hildah (Magaia) is still here, haven’t gone back overseas just yet. So it won’t be an easy game at all.
“But for us it’s not just about this game but the qualifier - that’s the most important game. But we’ve got to make sure that we get everything almost right in this game. We know when the overseas based player arrives the level goes up.”
Banyana’s last competitive match was in October when they humiliated Mozambique at the back of a disappointing outing in the COSAFA Cup where they finished fourth. But before that, though, Ellis led her troops to the Buhari Cup.
With the current squad in camp mostly dominated by local-based players, Ellis is hellbent on integrating more new players into the team. But there was also a returnee in Thalea Smidt, who last got her call-up in 2015 under coach Vera Pauw.
“Bongeka Gamede and Lelona Daweti pulled out due to injuries. That was tough for us,” Ellis said. “But there’s always someone else that steps up. We want to make sure that we give other players that did well in the league an opportunity."
IOL Sport