Banyana Banyana coach Dr Desiree Ellis says ending the year with a win is a big confidence booster for her side.
Banyana defeated next year’s Women’s Africa Cup Of Nations hosts Morocco 2-0 in a friendly at Stade D’Agadir on Tuesday to close the year on a high. Though it’s been a turbulent year where the team couldn’t defend their WAFCON title, Banyana managed to qualify for the next continental event next year which will also serve as a World Cup qualifier.
The coach was pleased with the team’s overall performance including the contribution of youngsters in the side like Jessica Wade and Bonolo Mokoma who got minutes in the game.
“I thought Jess came in early I thought she gave a really good performance,” said Ellis.
“Bonolo, we know what she can do. We saw her performance against DR Congo. Nthabi [Nthabiseng Majiya] got to start today. I thought Nox [Noxolo Cesane] was really good today as well, but defensively, not just talking about the defenders, but defensively we were really sound today.
“And we were always going to create a chance or two. I thought Karabo [Dhlamini] had an earlier chance, getting it on target. But Nox took her goal so well, and if you don’t shoot, you don’t score. So, I thought it was a great performance today.
“It’s a big confidence booster to end the year off on a good note. We did say we want to end it on a good note having qualified for WAFCON and then getting this big win against the hosts. It’s a good momentum for us.”
“You’re going into the offseason now, but you’re going in the offseason with a lot of confidence, and we know what to expect coming back, because this loss will really also make sure that they step up. And the WAFCON having increased to 16 countries, it’s going to be a tough competition.
“It’s a World Cup qualifying competition, and we’ve got to be better than what we were today, but today was a good performance, and it gave us a good result.”
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