The coach of the national women’s football team, Desiree Ellis, believes that the two friendly matches her team will play against Japan will be a good test before this year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Banyana Banyana will face Japan at Nagai Ballgame Field, in the city of Osaka, on Saturday at 8.50 am. These teams will meet again at J-Green Sakai, in the same city on Tuesday.
These games are part of the preparations for Wafcon which will start on July 25 and wrap up on August 16, in Morocco. This tournament was scheduled to be played in March this year, in this North African country, but it was postponed.
Banyana will face Japan without Lebohang Ramalepe who is sitting exams, Amogelang Motau, Hilda Magaia and Shakira O’Malley who are injured.
Although these players will be absent, Ellis’ squad has been strengthened by the return of other key players such as Thembi Kgatlana and Bongeka Gamede who were absent. Banyana beat Algeria 1-0 and 2-0 in the friendly in April.
“We didn’t want to put the affected players at risk because these games are friendly. It also gives us a chance to look at other players that we wouldn’t have seen if they were all ready to play,” said Ellis.
“The players who have returned will have the opportunity to prove themselves to us coaches, and remind us of what they can do. There are still other players who were part of the previous Wafcon, like Ronnel Donnelly, who we are looking forward to how they will return to their teams. What I can say is that it will take time to confirm which players we will bring to Wafcon.”
Although Japan plays a slightly different type of football compared to the African countries that Banyana will face in the Wafcon, Ellis believes that these two games will help them to try different things and see where they need to strengthen.
“We know very well how difficult it will be to play against Japan. We will be facing a team ranked fifth in the world. The most important thing is that we play well and be able to compete with them. We have improved as a team but we want to see what level we are at,” continued Ellis.
“It is important that we play well, and then achieve our other goals. There are young players in the team that we are looking for to have the opportunity to play at this level because that will make them grow. We played against Japan in a friendly in 2019, they beat us 2-0 but a lot has changed for them and us.”
In this year’s Wafcon, Banyana is in Group B where they have been drawn with Tanzania, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.