Photo Credit - SAFA Media.
Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has revealed what she wants to achieve when they face Lesotho in their two international friendly matches this weekend.
South African senior women’s national team will play Lesotho on Saturday, and on Tuesday, 25 February 2025 in matches that are part of coach Desiree Ellis’ preparations for the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, which will take place in Morocco between 5 – 26 July 2025.
“Look, we wanna see players play, let's not make no mistake because it’s the only way you can see whether they can step up. Training shows you that they can do something and sometimes players don't perform in training and people expect the players to play but it starts at training,” Ellis said as quoted by SABC Sports.
“So, we're hoping to see the players play and then for them to show us what they are capable of doing and if they can be added immediately or whether we need to call them in again and monitor them over a period of time.
“People think I go to games because I wanna be seen on TV but I can watch the game on TV. I want to see what's happening on the field, I want to see all the actions when players lose the ball, what are their reactions when coaches speak to them.”
She continued: “I want to see all of that because it's not just about talent, it's about attitude, it’s about everything because we need the whole package. We purposely didn't bring in any of the senior players because we didn't want to put the players under pressure.”
Banyana have 26 players in camp after four goalkeepers from the initial list were retained. Dineo Magagula (TS Galaxy), Kebotseng Moletsane (The University of the Western Cape), Casey Gordon (JVW FC) and Kgomotso Mussimango (Mamelodi Sundowns) are the four goal minders that have been retained for the matches at UJ Soweto Campus.
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