Desiree Ellis: Banyana on the right track for WAFCON

The South Africans suffered their second loss on Tuesday morning, going down 3-2 to the Reggae Girlz in Montego Bay, Jamaica, after the first encounter on Friday ended 3-0 in favour of the hosts. 

Banyana were using the matches to get ready for the defence of their WAFCON title in Morocco next year, and Ellis believes they are on the right track.

"We played the way we wanted to play, moving the ball around – I think our movement up front, especially in the first half, could have been better," said Ellis.

"We came here without a striker because we had a couple of withdrawals just before we left, so we couldn't replace anyone, but I think we also gave some debuts to players – a 21-year-old centre-back [Shakira O'Malley] had [Khadija] Shaw in her back pocket tonight.

"So, for us, that's a plus, and we also brought back a left-back who last played for us in 2022 – that's another big plus for us, but also having some of our players back, and we still have a lot of players missing, I think that augurs well for us going forward.

"We're preparing for the WAFCON, to defend our title, and this was great preparation."

The four-time CAF Women’s Coach of the Year was not happy with the officiating, saying the result could have been different.

"Tonight I'm a bit disappointed, not in the performance but in decisions that didn't go our way – the assistant referee had her flag up and all of a sudden put her flag down, two contentious penalties that should or could have been," she added.

"Other than that, I'm really proud. We knew we were a better team than the previous game. I think for most of the game we were in control, even when we conceded we were in control, but when decisions don't go your way, there's nothing you can do about that.

"To the people back home, if they were up [at 02h30], this one's for them. We're disappointed that we couldn't give them a result in the previous game, but this one is for them.

"We might have lost, but we lost with pride because, as I said, if decisions had gone our way, we could have won the game."

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