‘We can’t relax’, says Matlou ahead of Banyana/Algeria second leg

Banyana Banyana veteran Noko Matlou says they will have to up their game when they play against Algeria in the second leg of the last round of the Caf Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Algiers on Wednesday.

Banyana won the first leg 2-0 last week at home, but the score would have been much worse had they taken their goal scoring chances. With the return leg coming up, Matlou is adamant that the senior national women’s team will be able to do well away from home.

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“Without any disrespect, I think we will be able to get a good result in Algeria, I really believe so. If you can look at the first leg, we should have really won with a bigger score-line, but we were unlucky in front of goals, that is something we need to fix in the next game,:” said the defender.

“Its advantage to us, but that doesn’t mean we have to relax. We have to approach this game with the right mindset and not to take our opponents for granted, because if we relax, they will hurt us. Especially since they will be playing at home, so they are going to come hard at us because they know that they have to beat us in order for them to have any chance of qualifying for the Afcon.”

Banyana arrived in Algeria on Sunday, with the team on a quest to qualify for their `13^th continental tournament. Matlou adds that the team is looking in great shape and every member of the squad is eager to play and she loves what she saw with young players like Thalea Smidt adapting very well into the squad.

“Everyone wants to play and the competition for a place in the starting line-up is very hard, we all want to play and that’s what I like about the team because it keeps everyone on their toes. So, we don’t relax, no one is guaranteed a place in the starting line-up. I think the young players are doing well, you could even with Thalea when she came on as a substitute in the last game that she played well and looked like someone who has been in the team for a long time,” she concluded.