Banyana confident of victory despite poor prep

Though Banyana Banyana haven’t had the best of preparations ahead of the African Women’s Cup of Nations (Awcon), star players Thembi Kgatlana and Jermaine Seoposenwe are confident they can bring the title home.

Banyana, who have made 13 appearances and five finals in the Awcon, are in Morocco for the 2022 edition of the tournament, which will start on Saturday, with the final set for July 23.

To encourage the women’s national team, SA Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan has dangled a R10m carrot for them to take home as a bonus if they win Awcon, which has been dominated by Nigeria with its 11 titles.

SA are in Group C with Nigeria, debutants Botswana and Burundi, with Banyana’s first game set for Monday, July 4 against the defending champs.

Though Safa has promised this big bonus, it’s important to note that coach Desiree Ellis and her side head to the competition undercooked.

Banyana played two friendly games ahead of the continental showpiece — a 3-0 loss to Zambia in February and a 5-1 drubbing by Netherlands in April.

They also played the final round of qualifiers, where they weren’t that impressive, against Algeria in February.

While the Netherlands is a world powerhouse, Safa should have organised more games of that level for Banyana, to help them overpower the untouchable Nigeria and a strong Cameroon in a bid to be crowned African queens.

However, Ellis will hope the team that lost the 2018 finals in the penalty shootouts against Nigeria will do better this year, as they now have more players plying their trade at the highest level abroad.

Her squad is made up of players such as Kgatlana, the Atletico Madrid Women star; Refiloe Jane, who left AC Milan of Italy this week; Seoposenwe, who has left Braga in Portugal; veteran Noko Matlou, who plays in Spain for Eibar; and Linda Motlhalo, who plays for Djurgardens in Sweden.

“Over the years, Banyana have fallen short at the final hurdle, but to be honest, we can’t ignore the fact that Nigeria has a lot of experience when it comes to this tournament,” Kgatlana said.

“But again, over the past two years we are the only team that has won twice against them, and I think it brings a lot of excitement to see what we can do in Morocco. We are in the same group as Nigeria and that’ sa chance for us to test ourselves against them early in the tournament. We can even have more time to plan on how to play against them in the final because for sure they will be there in the final.”

Kgatlana said she was confident of the squad they have. “It’s a mix of players with experience, others are playing abroad, and good young players. I believe we stand a good chance to play in the final and it’s going to be a good one for us.”

Seoposenwe said while everyone was talking about Nigeria, Banyana have gone through a lot of improvements and have proven they can beat Nigeria. “I think we should talk more about Banyana and what we are bringing to the table as well,” said Seoposenwe.

“We have players playing in some of the biggest clubs in the world. We too have that experience and we are a group of players that have played together for a very long time since 2018. Most of the players who were there are back in the squad and we have cultivated this relationship among each other. We can lean on each other when the chips are down and when things are going well we can also encourage each other.

“You also have a lot of young players coming into the team, they bring that level of energy that is important to keep everyone on their toes. I’m super confident in our team.”

The Awcon prize money for winners is believed to have been increased to at least $2m (R31.6m) by Caf while men get $5m for winning the Afcon.

Banyana players will get R30,000 for finishing fourth, R40,000 for finishing third, and R55,000 for a second-place finish from Safa bonuses.