Ellis wary of fatigue ahead of Banyana semifinal clash against Nigeria

Having played 120 minutes against Senegal before winning their quarterfinal 4-1 on penalties on Saturday, Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is concerned about fatigue. 

South Africa meet Nigeria in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations of Nations semifinals on Tuesday (6pm, SA time) at Stade Larbi Zaouli in Casablanca, Morocco.

Banyana struggled to overcome the tough Lionesses of Terenga until penalties came to the rescue with goalkeeper Andile Dlamini saving two of them. The tough south-vs-west battle in Oujda had ended in a goalless draw after extra time.

Nigeria thumped Zambia 5-0 in their quarterfinal on Friday.

The semifinal between the two powerhouses of African women's football will be hugely anticipated after South Africa beat record 11-time winners Nigeria in the group stage of the 2022 Wafcon, also in Morocco, on the way to Banyana's first title. The 2-1 loss was the Super Falcons' first in the group stages in 20 years.

Ellis is concerned her team night not have had enough time to recover for the matchup on Tuesday.

“We are not thinking about Nigeria right now, we will think about the next match tomorrow [on Sunday]. Let's celebrate what we have done,” Ellis said after Saturday's match.

“We won't overthink anything because we want to celebrate what we have done. As a technical team, we are already standing on one side talking about how we are going to plan and how we are going to prepare because 120 minutes with a day less to prepare and a day to travel takes a lot [out of everyone].

“But this team, I don’t have enough words to describe this team’s resilience, courage, never-say-die attitude, being willing to fight for each other.

“When we didn’t have someone at left-back [forward] Jermaine [Seoposenwe] went to play there — she didn’t care. When we didn’t have someone up front ‘Rama’ [wingback Lebohang Ramalepe] went to play there.

“That’s what this team is all about and I think it showed on the pitch — no matter what they threw at us we were able to withstand that.”

Apart from the scheduling, Banyana are also likely to have to step up a gear from their performance against Senegal if they are to beat the Super Falcons.

Given Senegal were third-placed finishers in an albeit tough Group A and Banyana won Group C many might have expected South Africa to have an easier passage past the West Africans.

Ellis, though, was quick to remind she had cautioned Senegal would be tough to beat.

“I said it was going to be a difficult game because of the [tough] group they came out of and how they played in that group. And we didn’t expect anything less.

“I thought in the first 15 minutes we showed some nerves trying to get into the game but once we got into it we nullified their threat — their two strikers, who they play the long ball to very well.

“But sometimes we gave the ball away too cheaply. And we knew if we did that they would transition immediately. And when we were in with opportunities we made the wrong decisions.

“That said, we have to look at how Senegal have improved. We played them last year in June [in a 1-1 draw and 2-0 win in friendlies in Senegal] and they have improved — the coach [Serigné Mame Moussa] has done a fantastic job from last year until now.

“There were only 12 players here from when we played them last. It just shows how women’s football on the continent has improved.”

Part of Banyana's resilience Ellis refers to surely relates to her team coming through a two-day strike before the tournament over unpaid salaries by the South African Football Association from previous matches and still reaching the semis.

They will need all that fortitude to negotiate past intimidating Nigeria.

SowetanLIVE, TimesLIVE