Following a 3-2 victory over Italy, Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis has pointed out why she has been sticking with Kaylin Swart despite fierce criticism.
South Africa sealed their first FIFA Women’s World Cup knockout berth after defeating stubborn Italy on Wednesday. Hilda Magaia, Thembi Kgatlana and Benedetta Orsi [own goal] scored for Ellis’ side.
Before the match, SA goalkeeper Swart received criticism after the poor showing in the previous game against Argentina. Many questioned the sidelining of the vice-captain Andile Dlamini who was the Banyana regular before Swart snatched the gloves.
Ellis says Swart has been of help in pinpointing Thembi Kgatlana and other forwards with long balls. And gaffer also appealed to the South Africans to never forget the good moments that the JVW shot-stopper has had.
DESIREE ELLIS ON STICKING WITH UNDER-FIRE KAYLIN SWART
“Sometimes a player makes one mistake, but then you look, she made 15 or 16 other good actions, so do you drop that player?” asked Ellis.
“Lebohang Ramalepe made a mistake in a goal against Sweeden. And against Argentina, she made a match-winning save on the goal line. Does it mean you drop the player? No.
“I have to trust what I put out there, and making one mistake doesn’t make you a bad player. So, players are always going to make mistakes, nobody plays a perfect game.
“But look at the good things they do, sometimes we forget the good things that the players do. We always look at the mistakes, and with other players, sometimes there’s positional changes. Sometimes, you make a tactical change.
“But we had trust in Kaylin, we put trust in her because we felt that, at times, she’s really good at getting us on the front foot. And tonight she did, I mean, she put Thembi [Kgatlana] away quite often.
“But besides that, giving trust in a player, they also show you by giving their trust back in performing really well. She had ups and downs in some games but really gave us what we wanted defensively and in attack.
Ellis also added that she doesn’t believe in backpedalling in the decisions she took, mentioning that the players have rewarded her for trusting them.
‘IF IT DIDN’T WORK, THEN I’M A BAD COACH’
“And that’s the trust we get back when players perform like that. You got to stay true to who you are and got to make sure that when you make the decision, you stand by it. And if it didn’t work, then I’m a bad coach, if it works, I made a good masterstroke.
“I take a good with the bad because football is a matter of opinions, and we cannot change what our people think or say. But we trust the process, and it’s the most important thing.”
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