Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis has expressed her pleasure over the performance of goalkeeper Andile Dlamini during the side’s 2-0 win over DR Congo in the second leg of the 2024 CAF Women’s Olympic qualifiers on Monday afternoon.
The showdown took place at Orlando Stadium. Thembi Kgatlana‘s brace made all the difference to earn Banyana a spot in the third round of the qualifiers.
The first leg ended with a 1-1 draw which was played in Congo last week. As a result, Banyana progressed to the next round of the qualifiers with a 3-1 scoreline on aggregate.
South African football fanatics were happy to see Dlamini starting between the sticks over Kaylin Swart, who has been under fire for making costly howlers in the past.
‘Sticks’, as she’s popularly known within the football circles, has struggled for playing time at Banyana as coach Ellis preferred to start with Swart, which did not sit well with many football fanatics.
Having started the first leg of the Olympic qualifiers on the bench, Ellis decided to start with Dlamini, who led the nation to the next round of the Olympic qualifiers having made some fantastic saves and kept a clean sheet.
DESIREE ELLIS ON ANDILE DLAMINI
After the game, the three-time CAF Women’s Coach of the Year admitted that the highly experienced goalie, Dlamini, kept the team in the game.
“Andile Dlamini made a great save in the beginning that kept us in,” said Ellis.
“We knew at home that we needed to take charge of the game. They had one or two half chances but so did we.
“We could have gone to the halftime break with a lead and we kept saying to the team, ‘keep the intensity up, keep the width up, and the gaps will come in between. Let’s move the ball around quicker,’ and that’s what we did in the second half.”
Ellis continued: “We made sure that we did not concede, and this was also key. I said, if we don’t concede we will create chances, which we did.”
Banyana will face either Botswana or Tanzania in the third round of the Olympic qualifiers set to take place in Paris next year.
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