Excitement builds for Banyana's second World Cup

The team is fresh off what might well be their penultimate international friendly against Serbia before they head Down Under in July, with no more windows in May and June before the global showpiece.

Ellis, who is gearing up for her second appearance at the World Cup, is fully aware of just how fast these final few months will go and says they are now at the business end of their final preparations.

"How quickly the time files, now the other day it was six months and now it's 100 days. So we're really getting down to business and making sure that we really are putting  everything in place, but you cannot call it 100 days as we know time goes very very quickly. But [we are] really excited,” she said. 

With just over three months to go, the coach is not rushing towards her final selection, but admits she already has some names on her teamsheet that will certainly be on the flight come July.

"No blank sheet at the moment, but we're also keeping the door open. We wanna make sure we cover all our basis, and as I've said until the very last minute the final squad will be finalised, but there are definitely more names than a blank sheet.  We want to also keep players on their toes, to make sure they are at their absolute best all the time because we need them to keep on improving and not be complacent. If you travel with 23, and you travel with three goalkeepers they'll have this thing that they are in, and that is why we bring more goalkeepers to camp to keep them on their toes."

Logistics are also nearly finalised for the team's departure – where they will be based and train upon arrival in New Zealand, and Ellis is leaving no stone unturned.

It helps that the world football governing body is extremely well-organized, communicating with all essential parties on a regular basis in the run-up to the tournament.

"I was on the Zoom [call] just the other day with regards to the technical analysis where they brought in the referees and showed what happened in 2019, and what will happen now. The VAR [video assistant referee], how it works. They brought all of that in. Prior to that, I was on another webinar as well, with the technical analysis of how they're going to do things, how many people they have on that analysis, and how they track the players. The medical team was on a workshop the other day as well, with regard to the medical side of things. The manager was on a workshop as well with regard to logistical stuff. So it's never far from what we are doing, so we're all kept up to date. Just to make sure that we understand when we get there what we can and cannot do. What we can bring and cannot bring, etc."