Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is hoping to have her best and most experienced players when they take on arch-rivals Nigeria’s Super Falcons to fight for one of Africa’s two spots at the Paris Olympics women’s football tournament, reports OwoSports.com.ng.
Striker and stand-in captain Thembi Kgatlana scored the winner as Banyana beat Tanzania 1-0 at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday night for a 4-0 third round aggregate qualifying victory to set up a mouth-watering meeting with the Super Falcons.
The final round sees Banyana travelling to Nigeria for the first leg before they host the second leg on dates between April 1 and 9.
Ellis told TimesLive: “We know the Nigeria game is not going to be easy but we’ve shown in the past we can play with the best and having our best players back will also help a lot,” Ellis said.
“When it comes to those tough matches you need players with experience and you have to get the mix right with the youth and experience. So, hopefully we can get that right balance and get a positive result, first away from home again and then bring it at home and get the result.
“But no game is easy and you’ve got to plan it well and you’ve got to execute the plan. But I think everybody is up for it. Having missed out on the 2020 Olympics I think this is the biggest goal for us this year bar the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations later in the year [in Morocco].”
