Van Wyk calls for more high-profile friendlies for Banyana
Banyana Banyana co-captain Janine van Wyk calls for more high-profile games for the South African senior women’s team in preparations for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup set to take place in Australia and New Zealand.
Banyana suffered an overall 9-0 defeat to Brazil in two international friendlies recently played at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday, 2 September, and at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Monday, 5 September 2022.
The two losses against the South Americans have since raised eyebrows as far as Banyana’s readiness is concerned prior to the World Cup.
Speaking to the media after Monday’s game with the Copa América Femenina champions, van Wyk stated that playing against top-ranked European teams would come in handy for her side as the prestigious tournament [FIFA World Cup] is fast approaching.
“Obviously we are a team building towards the FIFA Women’s World Cup and we have to play opponents like Brazil and top 10 teams in the world in order to be a better team,” she said.
Van Wyk went on to reveal that how they played against Brazil will definitely help them to analyse how much work needs to be done before the World Cup.
“This is the kind of performance and result that one would get when you first start building your blocks. So, I think from the players’ perspective we can’t dwell much on results like this. However, it brings the confidence down but it will also make you realise the gap between where we are at the moment and where we need to get,” added the most decorated Banyana centre-back.
“I think in the first game, we went into the game not knowing what to expect and it was more like we going to take the risk of playing forward passes and trying to be brave in our tackles. But for us, this is the building to where we want to be and we now know what we need to improve on as a team.
“Our defensive organisation needs to be a lot better because when we go to the World Cup, we might not have much possession, so we need to focus more a little bit on our defensive organisation as a team against these top teams.”
Meanwhile, one can say van Wyk’s prayers have been heard as the SAFA president Dr Danny Jordaan vowed to back Banyana coach Desiree Ellis’ preparations for World Cup by arranging more matches against tough opponents to assist the women’s national team with their readiness.
“The coach has a complete programme already in place,” said Dr Danny Jordaan.
“I spoke to her and said we must meet because adjustments may have to be made, given these two matches [against Brazil]. But it is the decision of the coach and whatever she wants we will support because we want this team to do well.
“You must also remember that we did not have Noko Matlou and we did not have Thembi Kgatlana [for the matches against Brazil). Not that one swallow makes a summer, but sometimes it makes quite a bit of difference if you have players that generate a lot of confidence in those around them. So, we have to look at these things.”
The draw for the Women’s World Cup will be held in Auckland on 22 October 2022 where the 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four. The host country New Zealand will be in Group A and Australia will be in Group B.