COSAFA: Ellis impressed with South Africa after reaching final

South Africa women’s national team coach Desiree Ellis was left impressed with the performance of Banyana Banyana after they came from a goal down to beat Zimbabwe and book their place in the final of COSAFA Women’s Championship at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Friday.

Banyana Banyana, who made nine changes to the team that defeated Lesotho in the previous fixture won 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 stalemate at the end of regulation time.

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However, Banyana found themselves trailing as early as the 10th minute when Zimbabwe took the lead. Ethel Chinyerere produced a well-taken long-range effort to stun Banyana Banyana.

Six minutes before the break, Banyana levelled the scores courtesy of Nthabiseng Majiya after being assisted by goalkeeper Casey Gordon.

South Africa wanted big improvement

The game never produced a goal in the second half prompting the referee to call for penalties to decide the fixture, which South Africa turned 4-2 winners to storm the final.

“After the Lesotho match in the group stages we said we wanted a big improvement, and I thought today was a big step up from that match,” Ellis told reporters as quoted by SAFA website after the game.

“We knew it was going to be physical, we knew they were going to come at us, but I think after conceding that goal so early, we settled down a bit. The whole team really stood up, they fought for each other. We needed that type of performance.”

‘We can be really proud of them’

On South Africa winning the tie-on penalties, she said: “When it came to the penalties most of the more junior players raised their hands to want to take the penalty and we only trained for one day, but they were so confident and the way they took their penalties I think we can be really proud of them.

“The country can be really proud of them because this is not just about preparing for the WAFCON but it’s also about looking long-term. If you look at the players that were on the pitch there definitely is a lot of potential and a bright future for South African women’s football.”

While Banyana will face off with Namibia in the final at the same venue on Sunday, the Brave Warriors will face Zambia in the third and fourth place play-off on the same day at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium.