Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has given her verdict on the squad that will represent the nation at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia & New Zealand in July.
Ellis named her final 23-member squad on Friday, 24 June. The coach believes she has assembled a strong team.
Many players who won 2022 Africa’s showpiece; WAFCON made it to the Banyana World Cup final squad.
Ellis included the likes of 37 year-old Noko Matlou, Thembi Kgatlana, Refiloe Jane, Linda Mothlalo, Jermaine Seoposenwe, Noxolo Cesane, Bambanani Mbane and Andile Dlamini.
DESIREE ELLIS SAYS BANYANA BANYANA ARE READY FOR THE WORLD CUP
According to the 60-year-old, the team is up for the challenge and can defy all odds to cause an upset.
“Through all the times leading to the WAFCON, playing in Aisha Buhari shows that this team has grown, this team has matured,” said Ellis.
“This team has progressed through diversity, I think they are up for it. They have the resilience, I think they got the character and got the know how.
“We’ve worked a lot on other things, we know people have looked at us. So we going to make sure we execute our plans, there is no two way about it.
“We execute our plan we get a positive result, we not being over ambitious, but we got a big team.”
The last time Banyana featured in the World Cup was in 2019 held in France, which happened to be their debut.
The national team had a horror campaign as they finished at the bottom of Group B. They exited the tournament with zero points after suffering three defeats. They conceded eight goals and only scored one.
Ahead of their second appearance, the current African champions will be aiming to leave a mark and improve their performance.
This time around, they were placed in a tough group [Group G] alongside Sweden, Argentina and Italy.
In the FIFA women’s rankings Sweden are third, Italy 16th and Argentina are 28th. On the other hand, Banyana lay in position 54.
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