Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis said says their first leg of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) qualifier against Algeria will be a game of margins as there is little to pick between the sides in terms of quality.
The aim for Ellis is to win without conceding a goal on Friday at Orlando Stadium, so Banyana are in a comfortable position for the return leg next Wednesday in Algiers.
“We have to make sure we execute our plans to a tee and keep a clean sheet,” said Ellis.
“The conditioning team has been hard at work to manage some of the players who arrived in camp after long flights from their respective clubs. We are looking good so far at training.”
Banyana suffered a 3-0 defeat against the Cooper Queens at the weekend and Ellis added: “We and we are working on certain things that we didn’t get right in the match against Zambia.
“We have watched a bit of Algeria and I am sure they have watched us as well, we needed to work on a few things that needed attention. We have two training sessions before the match on Friday and we are excited and eager. It is a big game for us and we have had to manage those who came in with fatigue after long flights.
“We have played them [Algeria] before and we were in a similar situation where we had to win to get to the semi-finals during 2014 Afcon finals in Namibia.
“The men’s Afcon has shown us that you underestimate a team at your own peril and Algeria’s football has shown they have a huge pedigree, so we can’t take them lightly.”
