Preparations going well in Windy City

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says her charges have settled in well at Port Elizabeth, ahead of their opening Cosafa Women’s Challenge tie with Madagascar at the Wolfson Stadium on Wednesday.

The defending champions arrived in the Windy City last week and Ellis is happy with the way things are going so far.

“That is why we decided to fly down here in Port Elizabeth a week earlier. We wanted our players to get used to the weather conditions. Some of our players come from inland provinces and so we knew that was going to give us problems if we arrived just a few days before the tournament started. All the players have got used to the weather conditions now,” said Ellis.

“It’s been fantastic, but the windy conditions have tested us ... I think the team have adapted well, and the enthusiasm of the group is fantastic. The competitive edge is also there ... everybody is giving us a hard time because we are already looking at our video footage to see how we are going to improve.”

US-based trio Janine van Wyk, Linda Motlhalo and Thembi Kgatlana (left) are expected to arrive in the country today, but will only head to PE a day or two later, meaning they will miss the opening game. However, Ellis adds that she is thrilled about the arrival of the Houston Dash players.

“We are just waiting for the US-based players to arrive. I have been chatting to some of them, we are very excited and we are looking forward to their arrival. They will arrive in the country on the 11th,” she added.

“They will be fresh because they would have rested well. We are hoping they can get down to training immediately because they had a fantastic season at the club. Thembi had a fantastic tournament at last year’s Cosafa Cup and I’m sure she is looking forward to it.”

Banyana play their second game against Botswana three days later, before wrapping up the group stages against Malawi on September 17.