Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is hoping that her players are going to use their home ground advantage and get a result when they face Algeria in an African Women’s Cup of Nations qualifier at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto at 15h00 on Friday.
Banyana face the North Africans having had their full complement of players available for this clash. Ellis led her players through their paces at the match venue on Thursday afternoon.
“It was getting them to have a feel of the stadium. Of course, leading up to this, most of the preparation was done. We needed to come to the field and try to do similar things. So we have worked on a couple of things. Now it’s up to the players,” Ellis said.
The 58-year-old former Banyana captain is also hoping that her players will use the Highveld weather to their advantage during this encounter.
“We are used to this weather even though most of the players came from Europe. Even though it’s overcast, it’s still hot. We have to take advantage of the situation, we are playing at home,” she said.
Cape Town-born Ellis insisted that winning the first leg will make their work a little bit easier when they face the Algerians away on Wednesday next week.
“It’s not gonna be an easy game. It’s gonna be a difficult game. Algeria have shown that they are a power in football on the African continent and we cannot take things lightly,” Ellis concluded.
