Ellis happy with Banyana’s performance at Turkish Women’s Cup

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says playing at the Turkey Women’s Cup was an eye opener for her charges and it was a good way for the team to prepare for July’s the Fifa Women’s World Cup.

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Banyana were crowned as Group A winners after beating Uzbekistan 3-0 in their opening game of the tournament, before going on to play to a 1-1 draw with Slovenia.

Ellis is happy with what her team achieved in Turkiye and says her players applied themselves well.

“It was a good preparation tournament, it really gave us a lot of information in terms of our players, what we still have to work on, what we did better and how we can improve as a team. It’s a big year for the team, the World Cup is coming up and we need to make sure that we are ready,” said Ellis.

“I am really happy with what I saw from the players, we created chances and we managed to utilise them, especially in our first game. That is a good thing for the team because we used to create a number of opportunities and end up not taking them. But, there is always room for improvement and I believe the girls know that they have to work hard in order to compete against the best teams in the world.”

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The Banyana mentor also praised the South African Football Association (Safa) and the team’s sponsors Sasol for accepting the invite to play in the tournament and she is adamant that it will come in handy for the team.

“The Association is trying very hard to make sure that we are ready when the World Cup starts, as well as our sponsors. We have to be thankful for all these opportunities and always do our best when we get on the field.”