Banyana ‘are in it to win it’

Tshepo Ntsoelengoe

Lebogang Ramalepe (above) has her sights set on lifting the African Women’s Cup of Nations trophy in Ghana with Banyana Banyana, saying the team’s spirit and preparations have been at the highest possible level.

The defender is confident the team can go all the way and lift the continental silverware for the first time but acknowledges it won’t be easy.

“I think if you look at the way we played in the Cosafa Cup and all our previous games, you can see the team has improved out of all proportion and we have shown great improvement in past tournaments,” said Malepe.

“At the moment everyone is working really hard and we are determined to go all the way and win the competition. We all want to see ourselves lifting the trophy – that is the most important thing.

“We don’t only want to do this for ourselves, but we want to do it for everyone who supports Banyana Banyana and the rest of the country.”

South Africa will be making their 12th appearance at the tournament and have finished as runners-up twice, first in 1995 and the second time in 2012. They finished in fourth place both in 2014 and 2016.

Banyana flew out yesterday to continue with their preparations for the tournament starting on November 17 and they will play their last warm-up match against the tournament hosts in Accra tomorrow.