Soon after her team secured a semifinal berth by winning their second consecutive win in the Hollywoodbets Cosafa Women’s Championship, Banyana Banyana coach Maude Khumalo has set her sights on a Group A clean sweep.
Goals from Nobahle Mdelwa, Jessica Williams, and Ayesha Moosa saw the Banyana youth team beat Eswatini in the developmental tournament at the Wolfson Stadium in Kwazakhele in Gqeberha on Friday.
The win saw Banyana’s young crop top Group A with six points from two matches.
They will now play Seychelles in their final group match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Monday.
Seychelles are rock bottom on the log in Group A after losing both their matches. They lost 6-0 to Eswatini in their opening game followed by a 7-0 defeat to Namibia on Friday.
“We saw their first game and we watched them on Friday,” Khumalo said.
“They are a young squad and also they only play in their half and that is why Namibia were able to beat them with so many goals because they were inviting them, they were sitting too deep.
“What I can say about them is that tactically they are not that sound, but you can see what they are trying to do.
“They are trying to build the team, so for them it’s a building phase.
“Playing such teams can be frustrating because when you are used to playing an organised team, you become more tactically aware of many things.
“When you play with such a team as Seychelles you need to be wary of certain things because the players now need to think outside the box.
“But we have a game plan for them and we will use the right personnel for that game.”
Reflecting on their Friday win the coach said: “We knew that Eswatini have three players that are playing up front they will be looking to play those long balls and for us, it was more of us being creative.
“Hence I started with Nobahle (Mdelwa), the youngster player at 16, and (Samkelisiwe) Selana, because we knew that if we could turn Eswatini they would make mistakes and we could capitalise on them.”
• Meanwhile, African champions Banyana Banyana arrived in Coventry in the UK on Saturday night after a full day of travelling from Aalborgh in Denmark.
The SA senior women’s national team landed in London in the afternoon and then travelled another two hours by road to Coventry where Tuesday’s international friendly against European champions England will be played.
Coventry is a city in central England known for the medieval Coventry Cathedral, which was left in ruins after bombing by the Germans during World War 2.
Banyana Banyana international players Thembi Kgatlana, Linda Motlhalo, Sinoxolo Cesane and Hilda Magaia joined the team on arrival.
Coach Dr Desiree Ellis started preparing for the clash against the Lionesses on Sunday.
The team were thrashed 5-0 by Denmark on Friday and will be wanting a much-improved performance against England. — Additional report by Safa
HeraldLIVE
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