POLL | Should coach Desiree Ellis’s job be under scrutiny after Banyana’s Olympic failure?

Banyana Banyana will miss their second Olympics in succession after their final-round qualifying defeat to Nigeria, which, fairly or unfairly, has put the spotlight on coach Desiree Ellis’ future with the national team.

Such scrutiny might seem unfair because Ellis has enjoyed unprecedented success with Banyana.

They won their first Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), beating hosts Morocco in the final, in 2022 and became South Africa's first senior national football team to progress past a World Cup group stage in Australasia last year. Ellis has led Banyana to two World Cup qualifications. 

Nigeria are the No 1-ranked women’s team in Africa and Banyana second. So their tie to decide who would go to the Paris Olympics in July and August was a clash of titans.

The Super Falcons also — despite their recent poor record against South Africa, losing four of five clashes going into the past week’s fourth round qualifying tie — have formidable international pedigree. They have won 11 of 14 Women’s Nations Cups and qualified for all nine Women’s World Cups.

So a 1-0 defeat — the scoreline from the first leg in Abuja in Friday was also the aggregate score, as the second leg at Loftus on Tuesday night ended 0-0 — is far from a disgrace. One of two good teams had to win the tie.

Critics of Ellis will say the scrutiny is fair for a number of reasons.

Banyana were poor in the second leg, barely threatening the Super Falcons. Speculation is Ellis is out of ideas.

Even in their Wafcon win in Morocco there were question marks. Between a 2-1 opening win against Nigeria and excellent display beating the hosts 2-1 in the final, Banyana were not overly convincing, scraping past Tunisia and Zambia in the quarter and semifinals.

There was controversy about the exclusion in the starting XI of Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeping star Andile Dlamini at the World Cup.

Questions have often been asked about the favourites Ellis seems to have in her selections.

This is a golden Banyana generation, which makes the Olympic failure more disappointing.