Banyana Banyana’s preparations for two friendly matches, which they hope to use to prepare for the 2022 CAF African Women’s Cup of Nations qualifiers starting later this year, are going well.
Coach Desiree Ellis’ Banyana Banyana, who went to camp on Monday, are going to play against Zambia on Saturday, 10 April and Botswana three days later. Both matches are set for Bidvest Stadium in Johannesburg starting at 15h00.
The 26-member Banyana Banyana squad only has three overseas-based players. Some overseas-based players were excused because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“I’m over the moon. The last action was the COSAFA Cup, but we all know building up to that we were inactive for about eight months,” Ellis said.
“The idea was to bring in overseas-based players. We wanted to make sure that the gap was not too big. Unfortunately, due to COVID protocols and players going to quarantine after, we were not able to do that.”
SD Eibar duo Thembi Kgatlana and Noko Matlou as well as Amanda Mthandi from CD Badajoz are the only three overseas-based players in the Banyana Banyana camp.
Banyana Banyana have not played a match since November 2020 and Ellis is excited that they will finally play.
“I’m looking forward to the two games. Zambia has been in camp for a while, maybe a little further with preparations. Botswana has been in camp two weeks now. We are just excited that we can play. We have to make sure that through our preparations we are ready,” Ellis said.
