Ellis not carried away by ‘meaningless’ win

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has downplayed the importance of their win over Nigeria in their Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (Awcon) Group C opener this week, implying it will count for nothing if they don’t win the cup like it happened in the last edition of this tournament in Ghana in 2018.

Banyana face one of the competition’s debutants Burundi in their second group stages match at Rabat’s Stade Moulay Hassan tonight (7pm). Back in 2018, SA beat Nigeria in their pool opener, before eventually losing to them on penalties in the final. It is because of this that Ellis appears not to be reading too much into Monday’s win against favourites Nigeria.

“The players executed the plan very well against Nigeria but the job isn’t done yet. It’s a quarter part of the job that has been done. We all know what happened in Ghana, so we must be cautious and not get too ahead of ourselves after beating Nigeria. This is only the start of the tournament,” Ellis said.

Midfielder Amogelang Motau, who replaced the scorer of the second goal Hildah Magaia in the 69th minute against Nigeria, has reiterated they’ve put the win over Nigeria behind them as they shift focus to Burundi. Jermaine Seoposenwe struck SA’s first goal in the 2-1 win.

“Beating Nigeria gave us confidence and momentum but that’s history now because our focus is now on Burundi. We aim to take each game as it comes and not taking all the pressure that’s coming in,” said the 25-year-old Motau, who’s on the books of Hollywoodbets Super League side UCT.

Motau has also made it clear their intention is to fly SA’s flag high by clinching what would be their maiden Awcon title. “Our biggest goal is to make the country proud by winning this tournament,” Motau added.

Banyana will wrap up their group stages task against neighbours Botswana, who’re also participating in this tournament for the first time, at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on Monday (9pm SA time).