Banyana Banyana striker Andisiwe Mgcoyi feels the quality of opponents that the senior women's national team continues to get can only help the girls take their game to a new level.
The South Africans will play one of the women’s football powerhouses when they clash with France in an international friendly match on Sunday.
The match‚ which will be only the second between the two nations‚ will take place in Saint-Denis‚ Reunion Islands and will kickoff at 7pm SA time.
France beat South Africa 3-2 when the two teams last met in 2009.
The Europeans are ranked 3rd on the Fifa rankings and second in UEFA while South Africa is ranked 5th on the CAF ranking and 51st in the world.
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“This game is good for us because France is up there with the best‚ and playing against them will really help our game improve even more‚” said the Mamelodi Sundowns striker on Tuesday after their penultimate training session before they depart for the Reunion Islands.
The 28-year-old striker missed out on the Olympics but was part of the squad that was in Cameroon for the 2016 CAF Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.
It will be Banyana’s first competitive outing since their participation at the women’s Afcon in Cameroon in November and December last year.
Banyana exited the tournament at the semifinal stage after a defeat to nemesis Nigeria but went on to win their third-place playoff to end up with a bronze medal after they beat host Cameroon .
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“Some of the players in the current Banyana Banyana squad faced the likes of New Zealand‚ USA and the Netherlands‚ and you could see how that helped lift their performane at the Olympic Games in Brazil where they also played other big guns like Brazil‚ Sweden and China.
“So this game is really crucial for us to try and improve as much as we can.
"We know it will not be easy but we are up for the task‚” said Mgcoyi after their training session in Johannesburg.
- TMG Digital
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