Banyana Banyana head coach Dr Desiree Ellis says the international friendly against Morocco is a good opportunity for new players to test themselves against a good team and get a feel of the country hosting the WAFCON next year.
The two countries meet in the last match of the year at Stade D’Agadir in Morocco on Tuesday night. South Africa travelled over the weekend and had their first training session on Monday where Ellis said they worked on several things while integrating the overseas based players.
The match is part of Banyana’s preparations for next year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations to be hosted in the North African country.
Ellis says the outing will be beneficial especially for players who haven’t played at WAFCON.
“Look, the travel was very long, a long layover and players needed a good rest yesterday [Sunday],” said Ellis.
“The weather is very cold here, but we’ve worked on a couple of things in South Africa. We tried to integrate Bongeka [Gamede] and Linda [Motlhalo] into it. There’s still work to be done. Of course, this is a process of things that we’re working on. But the enthusiasm was really good.
“We worked on our all-round play, both in attack and defence, set pieces, both attack and defence, because it’s really important, that we work on things and as I said, it’s a process. We’re trying some different things as well and hopefully we can get some of them right in the game. There’s an opportunity to have a look at other players that had come back in, to have a look at them again, because we also need to make sure that we get the mix fight going forward.
“So, it’s another opportunity, but you always want your more senior players, but it’s opportunity for the newer ones coming to a country like Morocco, where we know the tournament’s going to be held, where many of the players were not part of 2022 to be able to get this type of atmosphere and environment.
“So, in that way, it’s also a team that plays different to many other teams. They’re one of the best in North Africa, on the rise and it’s good to be able to challenge ourselves.”
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