Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is unhappy with how her forwards performed during their 1-1 draw with Algeria at Stade Omar Hamadi in Algiers on Wednesday evening.
This is so even though Banyana qualified for the African Women’s Cup of Nations finals set for Morocco in July this year. Banyana won 3-1 on aggregate following their 2-0 victory in the first leg played at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto last Friday.
The Algerians scored first through Sylia Koui on the stroke of half-time. Banyana equalised through Linda Motlhalo in the 63rd minute.
“Our finishing was poor. We could have been 3-0 or 4-0 up before we even scored the goal,” Cape Town-born Ellis remarked.
“Also the defending of the goal we could have done better. The left winger didn’t track back. But this team has a lot of courage. We just needed to keep playing. Once the penalty went in, we simply had to control the game. At the end, Algeria were chasing.”
Banyana together with 11 other countries are going to compete for African glory in Morocco. Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia are the other nations that have qualified for the tournament. Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi and Togo are tournament debutants.
