‘This is where you start to build’: Khumalo proud of Banyana B at Cosafa

South Africa coach Maude Khumalo was left to console her youthful squad after Banyana Banyana failed to end their drought in the Cosafa Women's Championship, losing to Zambia in the final.

Zambia took the 2024 title as they beat the developmental Bayana 4-3 on penalties at Wolfson Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday, after a 0-0 scoreline in regulation time.

Disappointment and hurt were written on the young South African players’ faces after they had qualified for the final by beating Mozambique 4-1 on penalties in the semifinals and had high hopes of winning the first Cosafa title for Banyana in four years.

South Africa are record seven-time winners of the Cosafa Women’s Championship, but last won it in 2020. In 2023 they failed to get past the group stages.

“Zambia have more experience than our young Banyana team,” said Khumalo, the assistant coach for Desiree Ellis's senior Banyana, who took charge of the second-string, emerging team at the Cosafa champs.

“We are trying to build a team, future players who could help beef up the senior team for upcoming tournaments like the Wafcon [Women's Africa Cup of Nations].

“To be honest, I am very positive because these are young players and this is where you start to build.

“With Zambia’s experienced side, today’s match was about experience vs our energy. Given that we are a young squad, this was more about building character and testing these young ones to see if they can step up and play a game of this magnitude.

“When you look at our game against Mozambique, the intensity was so high and going to this game no-one thought that we would go to 90 minutes, extra time and penalties.

“But the final was a final because we went through every stage and when you get to penalties, it’s anyone’s game,” Khumalo said.

Thrilled Zambia head coach Florence Mwila said she was pleased to follow through on their promise of winning the tournament.

Zambia topped group C after collecting six points from two matches. They went on to beat defending champions Malawi 2-0 in the semifinals. 

“We thank God we got the trophy like we promised we would, but it wasn’t an easy game,” Mwila said.

“I think we did not settle well when it started. We just kept playing long balls and they outnumbered us at the back.

“We were finding ourselves playing two against five, which is something we went to talk about at halftime. We needed to settle, and we had a lot of scoring opportunities, but there was no patience because they were in a hurry to score and that saw us not convert those.

“But overall we are proud of the girls and how far they have come.”

HeraldLIVE