Captain of the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana, Refiloe Jane, makes a timely return to the national team as the squad gears up to face longtime rivals, Nigeria in a winner take all 2024 Paris Olympic qualifier.
The Italy-based midfielder will make her first appearance for South Africa since August 2023 when she was stretchered off in the second match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup against Argentina – a clash that ended 2-all, earning the African Champions their first ever point in the World Cup.
Jane missed eight matches as she was recovering from injury – two friendly internationals against the USA (September 2023), the second and third round of the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers against DR Congo and Tanzania (October 2023 & February 2024 respectively) as well as the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Burkina Faso.
Her return will certainly be welcome relief for Banyana Banyana and Head Coach Desiree Ellis, especially as they have lost defensive midfielder Kholosa Biyana through injury.
“It feels good to be back with the team, it’s been a long journey of recovery but all that is behind me now. I am more focused on gelling back again with the team, making sure that the experience that I gained over the years I’m able to share with the other players,” Jane told SAFA Media.
“Now we’ve got a mandate to qualify for the Olympics in Paris later this year, I think that’s what we are focusing on and that’s what we are working on as a team. We know the qualities that we have amongst ourselves, we will try to put that together and make sure that we succeed.”
The Soweto-born player is under no illusion about the task ahead, despite holding the upper hand after claiming victory in the last meeting between the two nations in 2022.
This will be the fifth meeting in an Olympic qualifier but 19th meeting overall.
“Even though we’ve played Nigeria a couple of times and recently we’ve won against them, we still need to give them the respect that they deserve. They’re still the undisputed African Champs in theory, looking at how many times they’ve ruled Africa so we cannot take that for granted or take it away from them,” added Jane.
“Playing Nigeria is never easy, you look at the history between the two teams, whether in the men’s games or female games, playing against Nigeria is always war so I think for us we need to stay focused on what the mandate is. When we get onto the pitch we’re going to need one another more than anything so I think playing well in motivating one another as a team is going to be of high importance, I think putting away the noise outside will be key and just focusing on what we have to do on the field.”
After spending a week in a training camp in South Africa, the African Champions arranged an early arrival in Abuja where they match will take place – this in an effort to have more time preparation time as well as to acclimatise the blistering weather conditions in that part of the world.
“I think firstly we need to give credit to the (football) association (SAFA), SASOL and everyone in making sure that we get to Nigeria prior to the initial start of the FIFA calendar. I think acclimatising has been key for us, we’re able to adjust to the weather. It hasn’t been easy, the humidity and the heat and having different players coming from all over the world and trying to gel in hasn’t been easy, but I think at this point we’ve adjusted, we’ve acclimatised and we are ready to go and play,” said Jane
Banyana Banyana will face the nine-time African Champions at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Friday, 5 April, with the return leg scheduled for Tuesday, 9 April at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
The overall winner will qualify for the Olympic Games taking place in Paris in July.
By Matlhomola Morake
