Head coach of Banyana Banyana Desiree Ellis has been impressed by the local-based players after a week-long camp held in Johannesburg from 27 – 31 March 2023.
The purpose of getting together early was to accelerate the level of conditioning for the players before the FIFA break, where the overseas-based players were expected to join. The latter will link up with the rest of their teammates at their base camp in Stara Pazova – a small and quiet municipality, located less than 30 km from the capital of Serbia, Belgrade.
South Africa will face Serbia in an international friendly match set for 10 April away in Serbia.
The clash is part of getting the team ready for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup that will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, scheduled to run from 20 July to 20 August.
It will be the sixth match since winning the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in July last year. South Africa took on Brazil in back to back friendlies, then faced Australia before travelling to the Turkish Women’s Cup where they tackled Uzbekistan and Slovenia.
The latest training camp had its challenges, with three changes from the preliminary squad of 32 because of injuries and three more called up.
The players have taken a weekend-break to return to their clubs to play in the Hollywoodbets Super League and will return to camp on Monday, before the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana flies out to Europe on 6 April for their first ever date with Serbia.
Ellis has trimmed down the number and announced a squad of 23 players that will face the eastern Europeans.
The match sees the return of midfielder Nomvula Kgoale (TS Galaxy Queens) who has been missing from the national team as she was clubless, youngsters Sphumelele Shamase (UJ Ladies) and Wendy Shongwe (Tuks Ladies) also got the nod.
“On behalf of Sasol, we would like to send our well wishes to the ladies who have been selected to represent our country. We are pleased to see Sasol League players being called up to the national team. We remain hopeful and wish the team success, as this is an important match leading up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup. We believe in Banyana Banyana and know that each player will rise to the occasion as we face a highly competitive Serbian team. This is the moment for Banyana Banyana to once again live the impossible and fly the country’s flag high,” Nozipho Mbatha, Senior Manager: Group Brand and Sponsorships at Sasol, told SAFA.net
South Africa is one of four African representatives at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup – the others are Nigeria and debutants, Zambia and Morocco.Banyana Banyana have been drawn in Group G alongside Sweden, Italy and Argentina.
CentreCircle.online caught up with Ellis after the announcement of the travelling squad.
Coach did you get what you intended with the local-based players in camp this week, you said you wanted to get their level higher to be almost on par with the overseas-based players?
We worked a lot on that, but we were very encouraged when they came back. Compared to the last camp, there was a lot of improvement. Obviously, in the last camp they just played one game and now it’s a month later, so they’ve really gone back and put some work in. We worked a bit on the conditioning side but also on our defensive organization, and our attacking structure as well. It is important for every player to understand that and makes it so much easier when you go up against opponents because we’re preparing now already of how we going to play against Sweden, and we know we might not have a lot of the ball, so we need to be better without the ball. We need to be defensively sound and when we win the ball, we need to be better in that as well because a lot of our goals have been scored on transition, and if we are defensively sound, we can always create an opportunity. But I was very impressed with the conditioning, with the attitude – it’s World Cup year and I think that’s why everybody’s starting to raise their hands, which gives us a big headache.
You initially called the 32 players overall, including the overseas-based players but when the camp started there were some withdrawals and changes…
Yes, Amogelang Motau (UWC) picked up an injury, and unfortunately, she is out for a little while. The same with Melinda Kgadiete (Sundowns Ladies), who came to camp, was assessed but could not participate in anything. Asanda Hadebe (Sunflower) too was out injured and unfortunately, we had to release them – and they could be out for some time too, but obviously with the condition they are in, fitness wise, they might heal sooner. We told them not to rush it as it’s very important that they make sure that they will completely heal from their injuries because the door is not closed on anyone. And we know when you get injured the first thing that goes through your mind is that I am going to miss camp, but I can still play, but we also need to take care of the well-being of the players. We then called in some players that have been in form, that have done well at their clubs. Nicole Michael (TS Galaxy Queens) came in, Tshegofatso Motlogelwa (TUT) as well as Mmabatho Mogale from (Tuks Ladies) were also invited. It was a breath of fresh air to see these young players coming through the system and being very excited that they got a call-up and wanting to really show their worth. They were also surprised, and they also said they work hard but the call-up came sooner than they expected. But overall, the camp was good. We brought in five goalkeepers because we also need to push the others. When you are bringing in three goalkeepers, because you’re taking three goalkeepers to the World Cup, people think I’m already assured of my place. So, we put in other goalkeepers just to push them a little bit. I think this week was worthwhile.
The injured players have been part of the national team set-up for a while now, how then does it affect your planning as you are working towards your final World Cup squad?
Unfortunately injuries are part of the game, it happens at a time and place when you least expect. But we know their qualities, we just want them to be healthy and when they get back, we look at the qualities that they had and check if they still have them, because we know what they can do. We also know and I think they know as individuals that while they’re not playing others are raising their hands. But as a professional it’s about you putting up a performance to get our notice, it’s about you putting up a performance to say, ‘coach I am still here.’ We can never close the door until the very last minute, until we hand that list, that final squad over. We are saying to the players that are injured to get well, to heal properly and to come back and then show us that ‘coach I am still here.’ And that goes to all the players out there who are not part of this squad.
What informed choosing the final squad to face Serbia – is it what you saw at training this week?
Most definitely!
We are always saying we want to test players, but it all starts at training. You’ve got to raise your hand at training, you’ve got to be on top of your game at training all the time because there are other players wanting to jump ahead of you. We looked at all of that and we also looked at the makeup of the squad – who adds value where, a little bit of versatility there and with that in mind, we selected these players based on that. We are playing against a country that’s physically strong, that does wing play, that’s very quick, that has beaten Germany, that lost to Russia and then beat Russia. We’re playing against a very physical team that will challenge us in 1v1 situations, will challenge us defensively, and challenge us in whatever we want to do. So, we looked at the squad and how we can add a little bit in every department and whether players from abroad coming in can complement them because some players raised their hands higher than others this week. That’s why you have the likes of Sphumelele Shamase, you have Lonathemba Mhlongo, and Wendy Shongwe in the final squad. Nomvula Kgoale came back as well – just to mention a few that have raised their hands. When they do that, you’ve got to give that opportunity to players because they are fighting for a place at the World Cup, they are trying to show the coach ‘yeah I’m here, please pick me, please pick me,’ and it’s all about that at the end of the day. It’s all about adding value and us getting the mix right with the youth and the experience. And we try to be consistent in our selection, we try to have continuity in our selection, but with one or two or three players then you know you’ve got to make that decision and some of it was forced by injury. But the players that we’ve put in have been part of the team before, so I’m hoping that they can step up. Nomvula has been out for a while not having a club and now back with a club. So, there’s an opportunity, like I said, for everyone else to step up when the opportunity arises.
Among the players travelling to Serbia, is anyone assured of a World Cup place now that we are going into final preparations?
No one is assured of anything!
You’ve got to play yourself in, you’ve got to earn that right, you’ve got to earn that spot in the team. We’re not going to make changes willy-nilly, but you’ve still got to play for your place. The players that are going to Serbia obviously are now being tested, the others that are not going have to show their hand in the matches because we look at everything. And that’s why we brought in so many players this time around to be seen because some of them have been here before – we want to see if we move on or do we keep them. We also must look to the future, Mmabatho is only 17 years old, Cimone (Sauls) is just as young, and you have 22-year-olds and 21-year-olds that you’re bringing in here and they don’t look out of place. They’ve come here and they know what it’s about, and I’ve said to everybody you are here to fight for a World Cup place. The ones out there make no mistake, we are watching. It’s happened before that a player comes in at the very last minute and makes the final squad, goes to WAFCON, goes to the World Cup, and it can happen to anyone.
What are you hoping to get out of the Serbia match?
We’ve worked a lot on our defensive structure we know when we played the Brazilians and Australians we were not as good defensively as we should have been, but it was a lot of individual errors, and we sat down and had chats with players. Now the whole defence needs to work on certain areas. We’ve also looked at our attacking side because when we played Brazil, before they scored, we had two good chances, and we tell the players that you might get only that one chance. But when the opposition got a chance, they punished us. So, we worked on both our defensive organization and our attacking structure. We’ve worked on that because when you play against these teams that are better ranked than you, you most probably not going to have the ball. We are a possession-based type of team with a lot of transition, so we’re going to make sure that we’re better without the ball, that we organize and structure that they struggle to break us down. So that’s what we’re looking for against Serbia, they’re going to give us a lot of resistance, they’re a top side – it’s no mean feat beating Germany in a World Cup qualifying match, so we know it’s going to be tough and that is the resistance I’d be looking for. We’ve worked a lot on conditioning and all those aspects, and we want to see how far we are implementing that because it’s all about getting this right in the World Cup.
We played all these top countries leading up to the World Cup and most of them were top ten if not top 15 countries in the world and we didn’t manage to really implement what we wanted to do because we were under so much pressure. It’s also about building confidence. Against Brazil and Australia, we saw what was lacking, now it’s about getting all of that together against resistance, but resistance that will still enable us to put our plan in place.
Having played all these preparatory matches, and now going to face Serbia, where would you say for you and the technical team is an area of concern?
I think our finishing. I think against Slovenia we didn’t defend properly, we let in one goal. But I think overall we were really organized, they never got a lot of opportunities, even though the first 15 minutes they put us under pressure but never really got behind us. I think we also need to manage the end of the game better, that was concerning for me. For me the big concern is our finishing – we are creating but we’re not finishing. As a coach if you don’t get chances, you get worried, but now we are creating chances but not converting them. So, we’ve urged the players to all go back and work and make sure that they’re accurate in their finishing because we might only get one chance in any of those games and that might be the winning goal, so we must better at our finishing. Instead of having ten chances and getting two on target, let’s get seven on target because you have more chance of scoring them, so that is one of the biggest concerns for me, our finishing!
BANYANA BANYANA SQUAD TO FACE SERBIA
Goalkeepers:
Andile Dlamini (Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies FC)
Kaylin Swart (JVW FC)
Regirl Ngobeni (UWC FC)
Defenders:
Karabo Dhlamini (Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies FC)
Fikile Magama (UWC FC)
Lonathemba Mhlongo (UWC FC)
Noko Matlou (Eibar FC, Spain)
Bambanani Mbane (Mamelodi Sundowns FC)
Bongeka Gamede (UWC FC)
Midfielders:
Refiloe Jane (Sassuolo FC, Italy)
Sibulele Holweni (UWC FC)
Linda Motlhalo (Glasgow FC, Scotland)
Kholosa Biyana (UWC FC)
Nomvula Kgoale (TS Galaxy Queens)
Robyn Moodaly (JVW FC)
Forwards:
Noxolo Cesane (Tigres Femenil, Mexico)
Gabriela Salgado (JVW FC)
Sphumelele Shamase (UJ FC)
Jermaine Seoposenwe (FC Juárez, Mexico)
Nthabiseng Majiya (Richmond Ladies FC)
Hildah Magaia (Sejong Sportstoto, South Korea)
Lelona Daweti (Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies FC)
Wendy Shongwe ( Tuks FC)
By Matlhomola Morake
