Banyana Banyana’s international friendly matches against Zambia and Botswana served their intended purpose.
This is the view of Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis following her team’s victory over Zambia (3-1) last Saturday and Botswana (2-0) on Tuesday afternoon.
Thembi Kgatlana and Gabriela Salgado scored to give Banyana Banyana their win over Botswana.
“Look, we were able to try out a few different things, especially in the Botswana game. We had not played for a long time. Noxolo (Cecane) was not available for the COSAFA Cup, we wanted to make sure that she also does get some minutes,” Ellis said.
“And we tried a few different combinations because we wanted to make sure we had all our bases covered. It becomes very difficult if the team doesn’t really come to play.”
Coming to Tuesday’s match against Botswana, Ellis said that the onus was on them to open up the match.
“We tried to stretch them, especially in the second half. We haven’t had league football for a long time. I was impressed with the way we controlled the match,” Ellis said.
Banyana Banyana used the two friendly matches to prepare for the 2022 CAF African Women’s Cup of Nations qualifiers later this year.
