Heavy legs ‘but we can do it’
ELLIS: WE MUST BE SUPER-PHENOMENAL
One game away from reaching their dream of qualifying for the 2019 Fifa World Cup in France, Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis (right) says her charges need to be absolutely at their best when they take on Mali in the semifinal of the Africa Women Cup of Nations in Ghana today.
The South African senior national team managed to reach the last four of the competition after ending the group stages phase on top of Group B with seven points having beaten Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea before playing to a 1-1 draw with Zambia on Sunday.
Having played three games already, the Banyana coach is concerned about her team’s tired legs and says she needs to make sure that everyone is fresh and ready for the clash.
“I said it in the first game of the tournament that we need to be phenomenal, but we need to be super-phenomenal with tired legs, having played three games and travelling from Cape Coast to Accra. We are going to have to be super-phenomenal to realise the dream, we have been talking about it, now it’s time we walk that talk,” said Ellis.
“We have been in this situation before, playing a semifinal and having to rest players for a day or two just to make sure they are ready and fresh for the next game. We have a lot of good people with us to discuss all of that and to make sure the players who have been playing regularly are really fresh for that game.
“Because it’s all about that game, we can’t think further than that. For us, it is the final and we have to make sure the players are as fresh as possible.”
Banyana have never qualified for a World Cup, and will get another chance, even if they lose to Mali today, in the third-place play-off on Friday. The top three teams in the competition will make it to the World Cup finals.
South Africa suffered heartbreak in 2014 when they lost their semifinal at the Afcon to Nigeria, and then lost the third-place play-off to Ivory Coast, just missing out on qualification for Cameroon 2015.
Nigeria, who finished in second place in Group B, will take on Group A winners Cameroon in the other Afcon 2018 semifinal today, looking for a spot in the final at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday, December 1.