Ellis balances tactics in test against Costa Rica, with eye on Sweden opener

Costa Rica in Christchurch on Saturday will provide the sort of stern opponents Banyana Banyana need with an eye to their intimidating opening match of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup against Sweden a week later, but perhaps not the style of play.

The team arrived in New Zealand on Thursday and Friday and have set to work putting a controversial departure, marked by a heated contractual dispute with the South African Football Association (Safa), and gruelling trip halfway across the globe, to rest in tough training sessions.

Banyana meet fellow World Cup competitors Costa Rica at the Ngā Puna Wai Sports Complex in the early hours of Saturday morning (4am) South African time in their final warm-up match for the World Cup.

The 54th-ranked South Africans open their tough group G campaign — where they are also drawn with Italy (ranked 16th) and Argentina (28th) — against one of the tournament dark horses, third-ranked Sweden — in Wellington on July 23.

Costa Rica (ranked 36th) are in group C with Spain, Zambia and Japan. They will be looking for experience against a team with a similar, Southern African, style of play as Zambia.

For Banyana, the Central Americans probably provide opposition closer in style to their opponents in their second match, Argentina in Dunedin on July 28.

South Africa coach Desiree Ellis suggested she has a balancing act between preparing for a good test from probably more skills-based Costa Rica, and perfecting some of the tactics her team will need to employ against the super-structured and precise Swedes. She also wants her team to put in a solid outing against the Latin Americans.

“It’s another top team, a World Cup-bound team. Their preparation is similar — they’re playing an African country [in their group]. And I think that’s why they chose to play against us,” Ellis said.

“But a lot of our game will be based on what we’re going to do against Sweden. It might not be evident in the game but we will be working on that during training, and also a little bit on Costa Rica [during the week].

“And then after that it’s to concentrate completely on Sweden. Because we cannot just [ignore] Costa Rica and only focus on Sweden. We’ve got to put a bit of effort into understanding what Costa Rica offer and their threats and weaknesses and how we can exploit that.”

Ellis has been pleased that many of her team’s training sessions in Wellington have been held in characteristic New Zealand rain, as those conditions are likely in the team’s matches in the country.

Banyana’s third group G game is against Italy, returning to Wellington Regional Stadium, on August 2.

The South Africans had a less than ideal send-off, missing their game against Botswana, as a stand-off with Safa was only resolved by the financial intervention of the Motsepe Foundation at the 11th hour of their departure last week.

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