Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has raised fatigue concerns ahead of their clash with Nigeria’s Super Falcons.
South Africa will meet the Super Falcons in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semi-finals on Tuesday at Stade Larbi Zaouli in Casablanca, Morocco.
The reigning WAFCON struggled to overcome a stubborn Senegal side and had to rely on penalties to progress into the last four stage.
After 90 minutes and extra-time ended goalless, Banyana Banyana went on to win 4-1 on penalties with goalkeeper Andile Dlamini making two saves.
Ellis’ side will go up against a Super Falcons side that demolished Copper Queens of Zambia 5-0 last week Friday.
Also Read: WAFCON 2024: We Know How To Beat Super Falcons — South Africa Coach Ellis
The semifinal clash between the two powerhouses will be hugely anticipated after Banyana Banyana beat Nigeria in the group stage of the 2022 Wafcon, also in Morocco.
The Super Falcons avenged the loss by ousting South Africa 1-0 on aggregate in the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Ellis feels her players may not have had enough time to recover for the Tuesday contest.
“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 told the media after the match on Saturday (via Sowetan Live).
“We won’t overthink anything because we want to celebrate what we have done and that’s what we do. 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.”
Ellis also praised Banyana’s resilience against Senegal and hopes to see the same against Nigeria on Tuesday.
“We have been practising penalties and we knew who our kickers were going to be and that’s why we made the changes we made. We always knew that Andile could save one or two; she had done [that] before.
“This was our first penalty shoot-out victory in the Wafcon; we lost it in 2006 and 2018 finals. I don’t have enough words to describe this team – the resilience, the courage, the never-say-die attitude and the willingness to fight for each other.
“No matter what they threw at us, we were able to withstand it.”
By James Agberebi
3 Comments
Omo women football in Africa gat a long way to go o…and am not talking about infrastructure, pitch or whatever cos the pitch in Casablanca Morocco is okay…am talking about the way these girls play….
Omo I was watching the women euros and Omo if you see their smooth passes, touches, shots their run on the pitch, you will think is their men that are playing…no much difference…
But our Africa women football na anywhere belle face….
Me am just waiting for the women’s world cup sha…(Especially for our super falcons to do well against their foreign counterpart) all this wafcon no dey too freak me…but again how can we(any African women’s team) win the world cup or even do well say reach the final with this kind of our anywhere belle face football
Mokey Yaish abi wat? Sharaap dere!
Ghanaians are just too fullish! Stopped trying to form dat yuh are a Nigreains becos evryone knew dat you har nothing but just a jaeloust Ghanaian.
Now yuh har trying to claimed dat the Nigreains Falcon har youre team but ees not true, just go and supported yur really team de black queen of Ghana.
Evryone back home in Ghana knows hu yuh har now, yuh har not welcome back among we Ghanaian. Kwasia!