Banyana fired to up momentum
Banyana Banyana will be hoping that the Cosafa Women’s Championship has given them just the workout they need ahead of the women’s Afcon tournament in November.
The tournament, to take place in Ghana, also serves as a qualifier for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in France next year.
South Africa were crowned the winners of the Cosafa Cup for the fifth time on Saturday, having won it last year as well as in 2002, 2006 and in 2008.
This time around they beat Cameroon 2-1 in the high-tempo final played at Wolfson Stadium in KwaZakhele.
Cameroon are potential opponents for Banyana at Afcon and, after their win, SA will now believe they can finish among the top three sides and qualify for the World Cup for the very first time.
Banyana coach Desiree Ellis said her team is on track for Afcon, but added that there were some areas that needed to be worked on.
“We knew it was going to be tough and we knew we needed to be at our best. This is the type of preparation we were looking for coming towards Afcon.
“There are still a lot of i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed, but we are on the right track,” said Ellis.
The coach said she was looking to strengthen her entire team, and the strikeforce was one of her target areas.
“Upfront we are still not putting the chances away. That is still an area of concern. When you are working as a team you want all areas to be fine-tuned, and that is one thing we will be working on.
“We have a Fifa day coming up shortly where we are looking at playing an international friendly. But also we are looking at going into camp for a period of time to really prepare.
“I think it is important to keep the group together, because going back home some of them play maybe twice a week or only once every week.
“So, we want to keep the level up, especially the fitness level and improve on that, but also we want to have a lot more cohesion within the team.
“If we stay together for a long period we will get that cohesion where when you get the ball and you turn you know that someone is going to be there.
“Also the togetherness helps a lot.”