Kgoale upbeat about Banyana’s chances at WC

● Nomvula Kgoale’s mother used to admonish her for playing a sport she believed was for boys.

The inspirational Banyana Banyana and TS Galaxy midfielder decided to do something to put her parent at ease.

Not only is Kgoale famous for her exceptional exploits on the pitch, she stands out from her teammates for wearing red lipstick during matches. “There’s a thing that abomama basemkhaya (the old ladies from our villages) believe in — that a girl is not supposed to play football,” Kgoale said.

“You must look girly, and not boyish. I put the lipstick on to say ‘hey mama, I’m also a girl, and I play soccer. You don’t have to worry about your girl going to play soccer and be thinking I’ll come back looking like a boy.’ But even if they [girls] do [behave boyish], that’s what they want to do. What does sexual orientation have to do with talent?”

The 27-year-old from Zebediela, Limpopo, doesn’t only like bright colours, she is also sharp as a tack. She possesses a Geospatial Engineering degree from Louisiana Tech University in the US, which she completed in 2019.

The women’s national soccer side are in the final stages of preparing for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup, which will be co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia from July 20. This will be their second appearance in the tournament.

At their maiden World Cup appearance at the 2019 World Cup in France, South Africa lost 4-0 to Germany and 3-1 to Spain, while China beat them 1-0.

South Africa will run their World Cup race from Group G against two nations from Europe, Sweden and Italy. Argentina of South

America are the fourth side in the pool.

The reigning African champions, Banyana are the least likely to make it out of the group as all their opponents are ranked way higher than them.

Sweden are ranked third in the world and Italy are 16th. Argentina occupy spot number 28 while SA are a distant 54th in the rankings. In most cases when Banyana met against top European sides, they have lost by big margins except for last month when they went down to Serbia, who won’t be at the World Cup, by 3-2.

While SA will be meeting Italy for the first time, they have faced Sweden four times in the past with the best result for Banyana being a goalless draw in a friendly in 2019.

Sweden won the other bouts by 3-0 in 2018, 1-0 in 2016 and 41 in 2012.

A contributing factor to the defeats is that most of these countries are ahead of South Africa in terms of women’s football development — with good leagues and excellent structures in place.

Kgoale says preparation can help overcome the tough challenges that will be presented by the highly ranked sides at the showpiece. “They are very good teams, and we just have to grind it all out, there’s no other way we can do it. Even though they have good teams and players, we still need to get the job done,” Kgoale says.

She played in Spain for two years and says the Banyana technical team led by Desiree Ellis need to be thorough in preparation for the Europeans. “Our management and the coaches (have to) find as much information about those teams — and us as girls, we need to work very hard.”

“We recently played Serbia, one of the best teams. They are not going to the World Cup but they had players who are playing for Bayern and Chelsea.

“That was a good match to measure where we are.

“I think we should not have lost that game. We really had a good chance of winning. We changed tactics when we were 3-0 down and that worked in our favour. It shows that tactics are very important

— and so is finding a lot more information about that and deciding what kind of formations are suitable for us to play.

“Yes, we don’t have a good record against Europeans, but I remember Sweden did come to South Africa back then and we drew and lost against them.

“The Sweden players were complimentary of Banyana players and said we are really good players. It shows that we can match them if we play more like that and prepare accordingly.”

Kgoale said Argentina are more like their South American neighbours, Brazil, who SA played at home late last year. Brazil won both matches in South Africa by 6-0 and 3-0.

I put the lipstick on to say ‘hey mama, I’m also a girl, and I play soccer’

Nomvula Kgoale

Banyana Banyana midfielder