Banyana newbie Nokuthula ruled out

Banyana newbie Nokuthula ruled out

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has confirmed that new call-up Faith Nokuthula will not be available for selection in today™s international friendly match against Australia.

Nokuthula, a Blackburn Rovers player who was born in Ireland to South African parents,  is training for the first time with Banyana after being called in to replace captain Refiloe Jane, who had visa issues.

Having trained with the team for the past two days, Ellis says they have been impressed with Nokuthula™s quality and believe that going forward she will be of great value to the team.

"What many people don't know is that I've been monitoring Faith since 2018 because we get records and we get to watch games," revealed Ellis.

"At the time, she was still very young as a youth player at Brighton [& Hove Albion], she's now moved to Blackburn, obviously, so I've watched her a couple of time and, coming to England, what better way to look at someone who's based in the country as well?

"Unfortunately she's not available for selection because her documents are not sorted yet, but it was ideal to have a look at her - she's really good on the ball and doesn't give the ball away that often, from what we saw in the training sessions.

"So, there's really something there and, with her being a young player, I think she can really add value to the team going forward."

The three-time, reigning CAF Women's Coach of the Year further highlighted the key outcomes they'll be looking for in their test against The Matildas at Kingsmeadow Stadium in London this afternoon, with the match LIVE on SABC 1 and SABC Sport digital platforms at 13:30.

"We're looking for an improved performance in all areas - be better defensively, when we're on the ball, manage it really well, and be better in decision-making," she added.

"And, of course, in the final third as well [the aim] is to be better than what we were against Brazil - we speak about minimising our mistakes [because] that has really been costing us over the last couple of games.

"We've got to really make sure that we're more organised defensively, we've worked on that a bit - it won't happen overnight but we're hoping for an improved performance, of course."

By Velile Mnyandu