Banyana Banyana will start their COSAFA Women’s Championship title defence today, Wednesday, 31 July, 2019, at Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth against Comoros Islands, where Amanda Mthandi, the national team’s forward, will be looking to stamp her authority.
Mthandi has played at the highest level in football – the FIFA Women’s World Cup, AFCON, as well as the World Student Games, however, she has never taken part in the COSAFA Women’s Championship event.
Now, her fortunes have changed as she is currently part of the 20-member squad selected by Head Coach Desiree Ellis and spoke out about the opportunity that has been handed to her by the former Banyana player.
“Since this is my first time playing COSAFA I don’t know what to expect, because it is a different competition, all-in-all.” – Banyana Banyana forward, Amanda Mthandi
“It’s not like your AFCON or the World Cup, so, it’s my first time and I don’t know what to expect,” she emphasised.
As much as there will be expectation riding on the shoulders of Mthandi to deliver, all eyes will be on the team after being on the world stage at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France and vying for their third consecutive title in this prestigious event.
“We have a lot of pressure because the World Cup to COSAFA is a different ball game.
“We played against the best in the world, so I think that we should maintain that level from the World Cup; that wave, and continue with that.” – Amanda Mthandi
“We might have had the break in between, but some of us didn’t really have a break because we went to the World Student Games and then it was back to training again, so we had to prepare mentally to come back to work,” Mthandi concluded.
All matches throughout the COSAFA Women’s Championship will be streamed LIVE via COSAFATV.
Photo 1 Caption: Banyana Banyana forward, Amanda Mthandi preparing to make her debut at the COSAFA Women’s Championship tournament in Port Elizabeth, ahead of the match against Comoros Islands on Wednesday, 31 July, 2019. Photo: safa.net
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