Ellis unhappy with Banyana display despite Wafcon qualification

Banyana Banyana secured the spot in the 2024 Caf Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) after beating Burkina Faso 3-1 on aggregate in the final round of qualifiers.

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The sides drew 1-1 when they met in Burkina Faso last week and Banyana won 2-0 at home on Monday.

Despite the achievement, coach Desiree Ellis was not entirely pleased with her team’s display at Lucas Moripe Stadium.

“I thought in the first half we couldn’t just connect, we couldn’t find each other. We gave them a chance like we did in the first leg and great save Kaylin Swart at the beginning to keep us in the game. At half-time we said to the players they must be a little bit patient, move the ball around quicker and those one-touch passes, rather hold on to the ball and move it around because the space will open up,” said the Banyana coach.

“Eventually the space did open up and we could have got a lead before half-time with the chances we created. We said keep going it’s going to come and eventually it came (a goal). Then we were able to control the tempo, but once again we lost concentration and made a mistake.”

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Ellis stressed the need for her team to avoid making errors, but she is happy that the team will be aiming to defend their Wafcon title next year.

“We spoke about minimising the mistakes because they can be costly if they could have taken the opportunity. When it was 2-0 we knew that the game is over,” she added.

“We are just happy that we qualified, the traveling was not so fantastic. But the resilience from the players and great fight from the players (helped us).”