Janine van Wyk’s Banyana Banyana future looks bleak as the World Cup draws nearer. 

This is because the 35-year-old defender, who has been skippering Banyana since 2013, has yet again been excluded from the 32-member squad to face Serbia in a friendly away game on April 10. Van Wyk was also not part of the Banyana team that participated in the Turkish Women’s Cup last month. This competition was a preparatory exercise for the World Cup to be staged in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20 this year.

One would interpret Van Wyk’s absence as a sign that her Banyana career is over. However, coach Desiree Ellis has reiterated she has not closed the door for the experienced defender, reasoning she is not calling her up because she wants to profile more players.

“I am looking at players that add value. I also have to look at other players… players that haven’t gotten a lot of game time. But like I said, the door is never closed. Janine has played a huge role in women’s football in SA with her JVW club and also herself. When you talk about young players, they look up to her because of who she is,” Ellis said on the sidelines of the Women’s World Cup trophy tour ceremony at Shapa Nike in Klipspruit, Soweto, on Wednesday. 

Banyana are pitted against Sweden, Italy and Argentina in Group G of the World Cup. SA will face Sweden in their opener on July 23 and Ellis is already dreaming up ways of upsetting the Scandinavian nation. Ellis does not want Banyana to repeat the mistake they made in the last edition when they lost their opener 3-1 to Spain in France in 2019.

“Everything hinges on the first game to get a good start because after that first game, you can plan how you want to go about it. In 2019 we planned for that first game but unfortunately towards the end, it didn’t go our way. But we are four years older, the team has matured a lot over the past four years. Our players are playing very top football, especially the ones playing abroad,” she added.