Ellis handed a huge ‘to do’ list
New Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has her work cut out for her if the tough mandate handed to her by SA Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan on Thursday is anything to go by.
Ellis was named as new Banyana coach on Thursday and Jordaan said she has to qualify for the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ghana in December‚ the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup in France and the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. ‘‘So there are three targets‚” Jordaan said.
Ellis will also be required to ensure that Banyana are one of the top two teams in Africa.
‘‘More importantly we want Banyana to be in the top two on the African continent. As we have indicated‚ Fifa is launching a women’s world league where the 16 top countries — Brazil‚ Argentina‚ France‚ Korea and others — will play in that 16-team world league‚” Jordaan said.
‘‘There will be two teams from Africa. The two top teams as things stand are Nigeria and Ghana. This means we have to beat Nigeria and Ghana to get one of those two slots and we have to be in the final of the Afcon in Ghana in December.
‘‘To support that‚ we will launch the national league for women’s football in 2019 so that we can create a platform for Desiree to select the players that can lead us on this path.”
Ellis said she was not daunted by the task after serving as interim coach since 2016 following Dutchwoman Vera Pauw’s departure. She had also served as Pauw’s assistant.
‘‘I know that in 2018 we have a huge task‚” Ellis said. ‘‘First we have to qualify for Afcon. We have been through the pain in 2014 of being so close to the World Cup.
‘‘As the president said‚ we all know that this is our destination to get there. The Cyprus Women’s Cup is coming up [February 26-March 7] but unfortunately due to the format we cannot win that tournament. But we will use all that to prepare the best way we can for the Afcon qualifiers and the main tournament itself.”
All three women’s national teams are now coached by former Banyana players — Ellis‚ SA Under-17 coach Simphiwe Dludlu and SA Under-20 coach Maud Khumalo. Jordaan said this was an important step for the local game.