Banyana coach Desiree Ellis concerned about sweltering heat in Morocco

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has raised concerns about the sweltering conditions in Morocco, where they got the defence of their Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) campaign off to a winning start on Monday. 

South Africa beat Ghana 2-0 in their Group C opener at Stade d'Honneur in Oujda on Monday in a match played at 5pm local time, with temperatures around 34°C. 

In their next two group matches against Tanzania on Friday and Mali on Monday, Banyana play at 8pm Moroccan time (9pm in SA) and conditions may be cooler for the players. 

“I felt sorry for teams that played at 3pm yesterday [on Monday]. If the weather was like this at 5pm, you can imagine at 3pm,” Ellis said, warning the tournament cannot afford health issues for players or anyone else due to the mid-summer conditions. 

“The cooling breaks help a bit because you get the moment to get energy, water, get conversations going and take their minds off the tiredness and get the players going again. [But] It was hot out there.” 

Ellis said Ghana put her defending champions under pressure in the opening exchanges but Banyana recovered by keeping the ball and sticking to their strengths.

“They started well and put us under pressure over the first 15 minutes where we couldn’t get out of our build-up. We changed things a bit and started getting on the ball a little more. 

“If you look at the match overall, it was not even because Andile [Dlamini, South Africa's goalkeeper] made some great saves. I thought we handled long balls well because we knew they were going to come at us. 

“Defensively we were sound, we always knew we could create chances. Don't take anything from Ghana because they are a good side but we got the result we wanted.” 

Ellis said South Africa stuck to their strengths of using the ball despite playing against a physical side. 

“If you go back to [Banyana's Wafcon opening games in] 2018 and 2022 we played against Nigeria and in 2016 we played Cameroon [in the second match], who were physical. We were always going to expect that but we know what are our strengths are. 

“We are not going to be muscling people around but we can move the ball around quickly and that is our strength. We have the speed and skill and we have to do with what we are good at. 

“We are not going to change what we are good at. Playing a long ball to a physical striker is not how we play. We prefer to put the ball on the ground.

“We knew we had to get off to a good start because not getting a good result in the first game puts you on the back foot. We can manage the situation and also make sure our players stay fresh because it was draining out there.

“We do have a few days but before you know it, you are back here and games are coming in quick succession. We have to make sure we keep players fresh and the game has helped us do that.” 

South Africa’s opening goal was scored by midfielder Linda Motlhalo from the penalty spot after the referee consulted VAR.

“I haven’t seen the penalty but I know the foul was in the box. Sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it doesn’t go for you. The second goal came at a great time and we could have finished it off with the third goal.”