Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis will be looking for vast improvements in her team when they tackle European champions England in an international friendly in Coventry on Tuesday.
The team suffered a humiliating 5-0 loss to Denmark at Aalborgh Stadium on Friday when the African champions ran out of steam in the second half.
Banyana are using the matches to prepare for their defence in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in July next year.
More worrying for Ellis is that the Confederation of African Football is yet to conduct the draw for the finals, which makes it difficult to pick suitable opponents for warm-up matches.
Playing these two high-profile friendlies four months after they last played a friendly against Senegal — and with star striker Thembi Kgatlana among the four overseas-based players who were unable to travel to Denmark because of visa problems — was always going to be a mammoth task.
Kgatlana, who plays for Tigers UANL Femenil in Mexico, Jermaine Seoposenwe of Monterrey in Mexico, Linda Motlhalo of Racing Louisville in the US, Hilda Magaia of Kansas City Current in US and Sinoxolo Cesane of Mazatlan Femenil of Mexico, were all missing.
The absence of these stars, combined with the unavailability of central midfielder and skipper Refiloe Jane due to long-term injury, left Banyana vulnerable against the Danes, who scored all their goals in the second half.
Tuesday’s match could be another baptism of fire for Banyana as the Lionesses will be looking to avoid two successive defeats after their 3-4 loss against Germany at Wembley Stadium on Friday. It was the European champions’ first loss at Wembley in five years, losing against a German team they beat at the same stadium when they won the European crown in 2022.
Like Banyana, England are using Tuesday’s match to sharpen their claws for defence of their title next June.
Ellis is still struggling to find a player to command the midfield the same way Jane did before she suffered an injury at the 2023 Women’s Fifa World Cup in a 2-2 draw against Argentina.
Kholosa Biyana, who earned her 50th cap in the loss against Denmark, is a player Ellis has been trying in the defensive midfielder role in most of Banyana’s matches since Jane got injured. But like her teammates, Biyana struggled to contain the Danes in a match she would have preferred to not remember for the right reasons.
“Definitely not the greatest result, but we still celebrate the great things (50th cap). It was a learning curve, and I think we played well. We got to half-time with scores equal (0-0), and I think we lost concentration in the second half when we conceded those early goals.
“It was a great run for the young players coming into the team, even though other players were not here. I think they gave their all, for them it’s an experience and hopefully we can take it into the next game,” said Biyana after Friday’s encounter.
While the senior Banyana team has been battling for positive results, Ellis’ assistant Maud Khumalo will be happy with what her young Banyana B team has achieved so far in the 2024 Cosafa Women’s Championship.
Khumalo’s team confirmed their place in the semifinals after beating Namibia and Eswatini in their first two matches of Group A. They face Seychelles tomorrow, and victory would guarantee a top-spot finish in the group.
A long-range stunner by goalkeeper Jessica Williams, adding to 16-year-old Nobuhle Mdelwa’s opening strike, should have pleased Khumalo in her team’s 3-0 victory over Eswatini at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Gqeberha on Friday.
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