Many players raised their hands, says Ellis as Banyana eye second win in Türkiye

Banyana Banyana applied many of the aspects in their play they have been working hard on since some disappointing defeats last year in their 3-0 win against Uzbekistan in the Turkish Women’s Cup on Saturday, coach Desiree Ellis said.

South Africa blew their opponents away in an explosive start that saw goals from Jermaine Seoposenwe (10th minute), Tojiddinova Shokhida (own goal, 13th) and Noxolo Cesane (25th), then took their foot off the gas.

Ellis admitted the performance was not perfect. The coach said she hopes for more progression when South Africa meet Slovenia on Tuesday (10am SA time), also in Alanya. 

Ellis’s senior team notched a morale-boosting first win since lifting the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) with their 2-1 final victory against hosts Morocco in Rabat in July. A Banyana fringe combination won last year’s Cosafa Cup.

SA's first-string side followed their epic first Wafcon title with friendly defeats against Brazil (3-0 and 6-0) and Australia (4-1). The win in Türkiye, which SA travelled to despite this month’s huge earthquake in a region 400km from Alanya that has claimed 46,000 lives, was well-timed with the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand kicking off in five months (July 20). 

Ellis said players at different stages of seasons in their leagues globally, a squad that did not have much time together and second-half introductions of players to cast the net wide, affected SA in the second half. 

“There are a lot of things we’ve been working on — being better defensively, counterattacks, being counterattacked,” she said.

“We knew it would take some time, but we needed to start working now to get ready for the World Cup. 

“And we’re quite excited that, especially in the first half, a lot of those things got put into place — we thought it would take a bit longer. But the players know each other from paying together all the time and I think that made it easier. 

“We were good in our defensive organisation and Uzbekistan hardly had a chance. We were good in our build-ups and counterattacks. 

“It’s now just the final third we’ve got to work on and finishing those chances because we had quite a number. But we were in complete control.

“I expected a dip in the second half because the squad hadn’t been together for much time and we made a few changes. In games like these you want to test players too. 

“A lot of payers raised their hands. It shows it’s World Cup year and everybody wants to be part of that group.” 

Slovenia beat Uzbekistan 2-1 and Zambia 1-0 in their first two matches.  

“We still want to be better, even in the next game against Slovenia. We want to make sure everything goes to plan but the players have to execute that plan,” Ellis said.