Ellis banking on overseas based stars for Algeria test

The weather conditions in Algiers are suitable for Banyana Banyana players, says Ellis ahead of the team’s crucial encounter against Algeria in the return leg of the last round of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers tie on Wednesday.

Banyana have a 2-0 advantage going into this game after securing a win in the first leg at the Orlando Stadium last week.

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Ellis knows it will be a different ball game between the two teams, with the chilly weather conditions in the North African country suiting the home side. But, with a host of overseas based players in the South African senior national women’s squad, Ellis believes that her players won’t struggle since they are used to the kind of weather in Algeria and she likes what she has seen from the body language in training.

“It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm, we worked on a couple of things. I think our players from Europe will adapt better because where they are coming from, it’s this type of weather just going into spring. Some of them struggled a bit in the first leg and that is why we had to make the changes we made in the second half,” said the Banyana mentor.

“We have to do better in our positional play. We gave the ball away a lot in the first game and normally that is one of our general strengths. We have to be more patient and not force play in our build ups. We have to make sure that whatever they throw at us, we are ready for the occasion and the training session we had was based on both those aspects of the game.”

Banyana will be banking on players like Spain based trio of Noko Matlou, Kholisa Biyana and Thembi Kgatlana, Lebogang Ramalepe, who plays her football in Belarus, Linda Motlhalo and Hilda Magaia, who are both playing in Sweden as well as Italy-based Refiloe Jane. All these players started the game in the first leg and will certainly the first considered in the line-up.