Having won silver at the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON), clinched the Cosafa Cup several times and qualified for the Women’s World Cup, Banyana Banyana want to be a major player on the international stage.
Banyana midfielder Bambanani Mbane says they need to play more friendly matches against top countries as Desiree Ellis’ troop prepare to take on the Netherlands at the Ado Den Haag Stadium on Tuesday night (18:45).
Mbane believes this will be one of the biggest tests ahead of the 14th edition of the AWCON in Morocco later this year. After suffering defeat to Nigeria in the 2018 final, Banyana will be hoping to be crowned as the best team in Africa this time around.
“Mentally, we have to be strong heading into this game against one of the big teams in the world,” said Mbane.
“But I am happy with how we have performed leading up to this. The team spirit is high.
“We need games like these to measure how far we are in terms of preparation as a team, where we can improve and also help each other with improving.
“We will learn a lot from it, so we need such games before we play AWCON, so we also know where to fix, what to work on,” concluded Mbane.
The game will be Live on the SABC Sport Channel on DTT, Openview 124 and SuperSport TV (Variety 3).
