South African women’s sport will take centre stage on Wednesday when Banyana Banyana and the Proteas netball team face crunch assignments in their respective World Cup clashes.
Banyana are Down Under in New Zealand where they face Italy in their final Fifa World Cup Group G clash in Wellington (kickoff 9am SA time), requiring a victory to have any chance of qualifying for the second round.
The Proteas, meanwhile, go head-to-head with defending champions New Zealand in a crunch Stage 2 Netball World Cup match at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (centre pass 4pm SA time). A defeat to the Silver Ferns will virtually rule out any chance the Proteas have of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Coach Desiree Ellis’ Banyana opened their Fifa World Cup campaign with a spirited performance against Sweden and were unfortunate to be defeated 2-1 through a last-minute header from the No-3 ranked side in the world.
The African champions then bounced back with a 2-2 all draw against Argentina, although they would have been disappointed not to have claimed all three points after leading 2-0 until midway through the second half.
Italy lost 5-0 to Sweden in their last match.
“I think we are professional enough not to look into that [Italy 5-0 defeat]. If we look at the goals that were conceded that were from corners which we handled a little bit better, they couldn’t handle,” said Ellis.
“We know what to expect from Italy, and we’ll leave no stone unturned. We’ve played two different types of games in this tournament. The first one was a bit more defensive, the second one a bit more open.
“We have to get the result, we cannot think that it’s just going to fall on our laps. We are going to leave everything on the field and make sure we get what we deserve.”
The Proteas, meanwhile, will have the additional bonus of playing at home where they have enjoyed fanatical support in their matches against Wales (61-50), Sri Lanka (87-32), Jamaica (49-67) and Trinidad and Tobago (69-28).
The noise inside the CTICC has been rousing every time a Proteas player has touched the ball and they are expecting similar support against the Silver Ferns.
Assistant Proteas coach Dumisani Chauke expects the CTICC to once again be transformed into a cauldron, but knows that they cannot rely only on the support of their fans but will need to be tactically astute to produce an upset.
“When it comes to New Zealand, we will be doing preparations such as video analysis and going through the things we need to sharpen,” Chauke said.
“When we met them in January at the Quad Series they changed up their game, they changed up their defensive structure, and we struggled to adapt. So we will be looking to prepare better for that, so when we do meet them on Wednesday we have a better prepared side.”
@ZaahierAdams