Veteran star Matlou wants a last hurrah
By the time the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Ghana kicksoff in November, Banyana Banyana’s Noko Matlou will be 33 and will be playing at the continental tournament for the fifth time – that’s if she is selected.
Matlou rose to prominence during the 2008 Women’s Afcon in Equatorial Guinea where she provided one of her best performances in national team colours. At the competition, the then 22-yearold striker netted six goals for Banyana, helping the team reach the final.
Unfortunately, Banyana went on to lose the final 2-1 to the hosts, with Matlou hitting the consolation goal. Her performance, however, didn’t go unnoticed as she went on to be named Africa’s best female footballer the following year, a feat that to date has never been achieved by any other South African footballer, male or female. But, the current crop of players have impressed Matlou so much and she believes there will be another Banyana player who will be crowned the queen of African football soon.
“I hold that award close to my heart, it is really special and I will forever be grateful for it. No one from the country has won the award besides me at the moment, but I am sure soon players like Thembi Kgatlana and Linda Motlhalo will win the award,” Matlou tells Phakaaathi. “That 2008 tournament was one of the best tournaments that Banyana has played. We were just unlucky not to have been crowned champions. The memories are still fresh in my mind, we played very well. The team were in good spirits and we all wanted to lift the trophy, but it was not to be.” The Banyana star, who hails from Moletjie, a village in the Limpopo province, remains one of the core members in the squad and was recently switched back to playing as a striker by coach Desiree Ellis after former coach Vera Pauw converted her to centreback.
She was part of the team that sealed the qualification spot in Ghana after beating Lesotho 7-0 on aggregate two weeks ago at the Petrus Molemela Stadium. With the Afcon five months away and age catching up with her, this might be her last continental competition and her dream is to be part of the team that goes to Ghana to win the competition and qualify for the World Cup.
Banyana only need to finish in the top three to make it to France next year.
“It is a great achievement for Banyana, and once again I am really happy to have been part of the squad that managed to qualify for the Afcon. The dream now is to win the competition and go on to compete at the World Cup,” she continues.
“Every time we play in Afcon we do well, but we lose focus in the later stages of the competition. Banyana have been second four times and it shows we are very strong. One of the things I have realised all this time is that we tend to fail to convert our chances which was the major factor that saw us lose the final.
“I am happy to be back playing as a striker and I am sure I can help out in our goalscoring problems. I believe in our current squad, everybody is hungry and we have talented players. We are going all out for the tournament this time around and I think we deserve it. We have been doing very well and it is time we lift the trophy.”
Matlou is eager to see women’s football in the country grow and is ecstatic that there will be a professional national women’s football league in the country next year. The veteran striker believes having a professional league will help grow the game and has called on sponsors to come on board and help women’s football to get bigger and better.