Desiree Ellis concerned about fatigue ahead of the Jamaica clash

This will be the first of two matches between the two nations, which the African Champions are using to prepare for next year’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Morocco in July.

After a gruelling season, most of the players have completed their league assignments and Ellis says they have to hit the ground running.

"We went to Denmark and we went to England, we had two sessions before Denmark and we had two sessions before England which was practically a match day minus two and a match day minus one,” Ellis said.

“So, it's something that we quite used to but it's difficult because you have players coming in, you have new players coming in and it takes a while for people to settle but we all have to hit the ground running and make sure that what we are going to do there everybody understands.

“It's really important, I think the jetlag might play a part later in the game because you will definitely run out of legs also with it being a long season. But we can see how we can manage that as well, and then obviously in the second game, I think we will be a bit better in terms of recovering from the jet leg but fatigue this time of the season we have to take care of that as well, that is really going to be important."

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Already without the Mexican pair of Jermaine Seoposenwe and Thembi Kgatlana and the injured pair of Bambanani Mbane and Karabo Dhlamini, Ellis had to face some withdrawals before the team’s departure, further depleting the team.

"Unfortunately, Hildah [Magaia] picked up an injury at the club and we got a late notification. As well as Sibulele is not well, we also had Karabo, injury, getting information from Mamelodi Sundowns. Majiya [Nthabiseng] came in late to camp, we then assessed her and found out that she was injured and couldn't travel,” the coach added.

“So, that was tough for us having those players out but we called in Thube [Thubelihle Shamase] who is familiar with the team, Antonia [Maponya] is a replacement as well she's been with the team when we played Zambia in 2022. 

“Unfortunately, injuries prevail at this time of the year, it's been a long season for everyone, players have gone to the Champions League as well and we had similar situations last year with injuries and exams of course. We can't forget exams because there are players that we wanted to have and look at but unfortunately, exams curtailed that."