Ellis expects Burkinabe to be physical in friendly
Tshepo Ntsoelengoe
Banyana Banyana head into tomorrow’s international friendly against Burkina Faso at the Dobsonville Stadium with little knowledge about their opponents.
The Burkinabe are ranked 105th in the Fifa women’s rankings, while the South Africans are ranked 52nd. Banyana interim coach Desiree Ellis admitted they don’t have much information about Burkina Faso, who have never participated in the African Women’s Championships.
Ellis, however, anticipates Burkina Faso will be a physical team like any other West African country they have come up against. But they will not put much focus on their opponents’ style of play, and would rather spend more attention on how she wants her charges to play.
“Not much, they haven’t played much football. But they are preparing for their continental championships which take place in November. But we know that any West African country that comes here will be physically strong,” said the Banyana coach.
“We have gathered some information about them and will work on what we need to do.”
The friendly comes just after a month following Banyana’s success at the Cosafa Cup in Zimbabwe.
Ellis has retained most of the players who did duty in Zimbabwe and has welcomed back skipper Janine van Wyk and Andisiwe Mgcoyi into the squad with the pair missing out on the competition due to unavailability and an injury respectively.
A notable absentee is former captain Amanda Dlamini, but Ellis says the door is still open.