Desiree Ellis adamant FIFA World Cup door not closed

Ellis selected a 32-member preliminary squad to face Serbia in an international friendly next month, and the local-based contingent will assemble for training on Monday.

Speaking at the tour of the World Cup trophy in Soweto, the coach, who’s working tirelessly behind the scenes to make her final selection for the global showpiece in Australia and New Zealand, says she’s open to being swayed. 

"Team is not final yet. I don't think the team can ever be finalised until the last minute because you could go to a game and someone could wow you. So, the door is never closed to anyone. But we have to make sure that we have the best combinations," she said.

Banyana have been drawn against Sweden, Italy and Argentina in Group G of the World Cup and Ellis believes their opener will set the tone.

"Everything hinges on the first game to get a good start because after that first game, you can plan, how you want to go about it. In 2019 we planned for that first game unfortunately towards the end, it didn't go our way. But we are four years older, the team has matured a lot over the last four years. Our players are playing very top football, especially the ones playing abroad," she added.

Banyana will face Sweden on July 23. 

Ellis goes into detail regarding next week’s pre-camp.

"We've got to put in the work now and make sure that when we get to New Zealand, there's not much to do. The important thing is, how we want to play, and what we want to do starts now. So, we already started that when we played in the Turkish Cup because we want to make sure that everybody understands, everybody is in good shape," she concluded.