Finishing bottom of their group log after losing all three of their matches, Banyana Banyana play Scotland, also without a win, in the positional play-offs of the Cyprus Women’s Cup, at the GSZ Stadium in Larnaca on Wednesday afternoon.
Their poor results are not an accurate reflection on how well the young Sasol-sponsored squad have performed as they put up a good fight in all of their games so far, especially in the first half.
Both the England coach, Hope Powell, and the Canadian coach, Carolina Morace, were full of praise for the way the South Africans played against them and said the improvement from last year was palpable but, unlike all the other teams in the competition, Banyana Banyana have not played an international since July 2009 and it showed.
Coach Augustine Makalakalale was pleased with the compliments he received but is also aware of the weaknesses in the side.
“I welcome the comments from these coaches and their words of encouragement give me confidence that what we’re doing is moving in the right direction. I’m happy with that but, of course I’m not happy with our results and that we ended up at the bottom of the group.
“A lot of lessons have been learned from this tournament second time around. We’ve scored goals which is very good for us especially if you can score against such well-organised, oiled machines — teams which are physically strong, well conditioned and tactically very disciplined. So to create four or five chances per game against them is a good step for us.
“We want to win the game against Scotland tomorrow and give it our best. Let’s see how many goals we can galvanise from this match.
With the exception of stalwart central defender Janine van Wyk and stand-in goalkeeper Simphiwe Mnguni, the team trained hard at midday on Tuesday and spent a late afternoon session in the swimming pool. Van Wyk is nursing a calf strain but will be assessed again before Wednesday’s match while Mnguni is suffering from abdominal cramps.
While first choice keeper Thoko Mndaweni is available again after her one match suspension, the team doctor, Paul Maphoto, said he will treat both players again in the morning and then make his final assessment before the starting line-up is announced.
“We will also see a lot of players tomorrow who haven’t had a run yet so everyone will have had a chance to play in the tournament,” said Makalakalane. South Africa against Scotland will kick off at noon on Wednesday and the team depart for home later the same evening.
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