Mbane: We feel pressure

Tshepo Ntsoelengoe

Banyana Banyana defender Bambanani Mbane (above) has admitted she feels under pressure to qualify for the World Cup after the national Under-17 women’s team booked their place in the global tournament to be hosted by Uruguay later this year.

Banyana have a busy year ahead with the Africa Women’s Cup and World Cup qaulifiers coming up later in the year.

“I want to go to the World Cup,” said Mbane. “As much as I see it as motivation for us to qualify for the World Cup, it also puts us under pressure to do well.

“I am happy for them (Bantwana) and wish them all the best. We have to step up and work hard so that we can qualify for the tournaments coming up.”

Mbane is part of the squad which will compete in the Cyprus Women’s Cup. The defender says the tournament will be good preparation and will help rectify the mistakes of their last match against Sweden where they lost 3-0 in Cape Town last month.

“It is all about rectifying our past mistakes, we know what we did wrong in that game. We might have lost, but it could easily have been a different story had we taken our opportunities,” she continued.

“But it was a learning curve and we can only grow from that. What is important now is to see the team compete at the highest level and make sure we represent our country well in Cyprus.”

The tournament starts on February 26 and finishes on March 21. The competition involves 12 women’s national sides, mainly from Europe, and Banyana have been drawn in Group C alongside Hungary, Slovakia and Trinidad and Tobago.