Banyana Banyana striker Thembi Kgatlana has reacted after they secured a 2-0 victory over Costa Rica in a friendly match.
Banyana played their last preparatory match ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Saturday morning.
The 2022 African queens were on the front foot from the first minute. Kgatlana and Hildah Magaia were on the scoresheet.
The last time Banyana went to the World Cup they had a horror campaign. They finished at the bottom of their group. After three matches, they had zero points and only scored one goal.
THEMBI KGATLANA ON SCORING ON HER BANYANA BANYANA RETURN
“It was amazing to score, coming back after a year, I played more than 70 minutes. As a striker I want to score, that’s something I’ve been practising,” Kgatlana told SAFA media.
“I connected with my teammates after coming back from injury. We needed this game we going to the World Cup in less than a week.
“Having played this game will boost our confidence. We have a lot of things that we still need to tweak.
“I think we did a really good job, firstly a cleansheet. We need to see how we controlled the match from the start, the tempo and going to attack.”
NO TIME TO REST FOR BANYANA BANYANA
Despite, the victory, Kgatlana feels like they haven’t reached the level they want to be at. The team is aiming at improving in every aspect.
“There is no time to slack, we need to go back to drawing board, see what we could have done better, what we did better then we take it from there,” he added.
Ahead of the women’s elite competition to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, Banyana were placed in Group G alongside Sweden, Argentina and Italy.
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