In her mission to deliver SA’s first African Women Cup of Nations (Awcon), Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has asked the SA Football Association (Safa) for preparation matches against some of the world’s best teams.
Banyana qualified for Awcon — in Morocco from July 2 to July 23 — with a 3-1 aggregate win against Algeria in the final qualifier last month.
Despite SA being regulars at the tournament, they are yet to win it and their best results have been runners-up on five occasions.
This time around, Safa has told Ellis and her team they are not prepared to be second-best.
“We pride ourselves with Banyana Banyana and we’ve seen them qualify for the Awcon later this year,” said Safa vice-president Gladwyn White.
“We are hopeful and optimistic that this time around they will bring the cup home. We won’t be settling for second-best.”
Ellis has held meetings with her bosses where she requested that the team play warm-up matches against world No 2 Sweden, fourth-ranked Netherlands, fifth-placed France and eighth-ranked England.
Safa national executive committee (NEC) member and technical committee chair Jack Maluleka said the organisation had a meeting with Ellis and her team and are due to meet again on Thursday again to finalise their plans.
“On Wednesday, March 9, we had the first technical committee meeting where they [Banyana] presented their report and proposed a plan for preparations for Awcon and it’s exciting,” Maluleka said.
“There are exciting teams that were proposed to be part of the preparation sessions. Countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, England and France were proposed.
“We know they will grow by playing these strong opponents, because we want to prepare the team for the tournament and as a technical team we agreed with the plan.”
Banyana are expected to kick-off their preparations and play friendlies between April 4 and April 12.
Their last preparation will be around June 17 where they might play against Awcon hosts Morocco, Spain, Algeria and Mauritania, Maluleka said.
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Banyana target matches against world's top-ranked nations
Image: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
In her mission to deliver SA’s first African Women Cup of Nations (Awcon), Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has asked the SA Football Association (Safa) for preparation matches against some of the world’s best teams.
Banyana qualified for Awcon — in Morocco from July 2 to July 23 — with a 3-1 aggregate win against Algeria in the final qualifier last month.
Despite SA being regulars at the tournament, they are yet to win it and their best results have been runners-up on five occasions.
This time around, Safa has told Ellis and her team they are not prepared to be second-best.
“We pride ourselves with Banyana Banyana and we’ve seen them qualify for the Awcon later this year,” said Safa vice-president Gladwyn White.
“We are hopeful and optimistic that this time around they will bring the cup home. We won’t be settling for second-best.”
Ellis has held meetings with her bosses where she requested that the team play warm-up matches against world No 2 Sweden, fourth-ranked Netherlands, fifth-placed France and eighth-ranked England.
Safa national executive committee (NEC) member and technical committee chair Jack Maluleka said the organisation had a meeting with Ellis and her team and are due to meet again on Thursday again to finalise their plans.
“On Wednesday, March 9, we had the first technical committee meeting where they [Banyana] presented their report and proposed a plan for preparations for Awcon and it’s exciting,” Maluleka said.
“There are exciting teams that were proposed to be part of the preparation sessions. Countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, England and France were proposed.
“We know they will grow by playing these strong opponents, because we want to prepare the team for the tournament and as a technical team we agreed with the plan.”
Banyana are expected to kick-off their preparations and play friendlies between April 4 and April 12.
Their last preparation will be around June 17 where they might play against Awcon hosts Morocco, Spain, Algeria and Mauritania, Maluleka said.
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