Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is happy with her players’ enthusiasm ahead of Wednesday’s second leg of the African Women’s Cup of Nations qualifier against Algeria away at Stade Omar Hamadi in Algiers.
Banyana lead 2-0 from last Friday’s first leg played at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto and hope to do South Africa proud in the North African country on Wednesday.
“We settled in very well. We did a bit of loosening up after a long trip. It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm, we worked on a couple of things,” the 2018 CAF Women’s Coach of the Year award winner said.
Algeria was a bit chilly when Banyana landed in the North African country and Ellis doesn’t think the weather conditions pose a problem to her players, especially those who eke out a living in Europe.
“I think our players from Europe will thrive in this weather. It’s more like a European type of weather. It will suit us as much as it will suit them,” Ellis, who played 32 times for Banyana, remarked.
“We need to do better in our positional play. I think we are capable. We gonna be a little bit patient, make sure that whatever they throw at us we are ready. We are gonna make sure that we are very concentrated, compact and organised in the first 20 minutes, that will be key.”
