Desiree Ellis not taking 'tough' Senegal lightly in Wafcon quarter-finals
BANYANA Banyana's spirited performance against Mali in their final Group C match of the 2025 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) on Monday did more than send the defending champions to the quarter-finals but it also strengthened coach Desiree Ellis' confidence in her charges.
Banyana will host free-scoring Senegal in Saturday's second quarter-final at Honneur Stadium in Oudja, where they played all their group matches.
Even though Senegal finished third in Group A behind hosts Morocco and Banyana's southern African neighbours Zambia, Ellis feels the west Africans have done enough to show that they mean business.
'Senegal? They've shown in a very difficult group that they can toughen it up with the best. So things are once again not going to be easy (against them in the quarter-final),' said Ellis.
'I don't think any game has been easy at the Wafcon and that is evidence to the fact almost everyday in the continent you've got teams now playing.
'Malawi they are not even here (in Morocco) but they are busy preparing for the qualifiers elsewhere.
'We have to give it to the federations that have been giving the teams an opportunity,' Ellis added even though her side faced a long list of off field problems before even kicking a ball in Morocco.
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‘We always knew Andile could save one or two': Ellis after Banyana's shoot-out win
'Linda would have been the first, Karabo [Dhlamini] then became the first to step up. She was also one of the walking wounded but the courage and resilience this team has shown, I cannot talk enough about that.' Banyana battled to break down the big, hard-working Senegalese, though had the better of the game in the second half and extra time without being able to produce enough chances, or bury those they did, to settle the game before the shoot-out. 'I think we had a few chances, I think we could have made better decisions in the final third,' Ellis said. 'We had two really great opportunities where if someone just rolled the ball across [goal] it could have been tapped in. But they had a really good chance at the end where we didn't pick up and our hearts were in our [throats]. 'We knew their gameplan and I thought we dealt well with their long ball. The minute we put the ball on the ground that's how the opportunity came for the penalty [for a foul on Magaia in extra time, turned down by the match officials and a VAR review], and I've had messages from home that it was a penalty. 'But we prevailed. Our last two phrases in our team meeting were, 'Outplay them and outlast them', and we outlasted them tonight.'
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7 hours ago
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‘We always knew Andile could save one or two': Ellis after Banyana's shoot-out win
Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis said they always knew goalkeeper Andile Dlamini could 'save a penalty or two' if Saturday's Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) quarterfinal against Senegal came to a shoot-out and praised her team's resilience in prevailing. With both teams having had their chances — though South Africa shading those but unable to break down a tall, physical Senegal the game went to the dreaded shoot-out at Stade d'Honneur in Oujda. Dlamini pulled off two huge saves that saw Banyana win 4-1 and progress to their semifinal against Nigeria at Stade El Arbi Zaouli in Casablanca on Tuesday (6pm Moroccan and South African time). 'We've been practising penalties and we knew which kickers there were going to be [for Senegal] and that's why we made the changes we did,' Ellis said afterwards. 'We always knew Andile could save one or two — she's done it before. 'By the way, this is our first penalty shoot-out win at Wafcon — we lost in 2006 and in 2018 in the final. 'I said the game was going to be tough, but we prevailed in the shoot-out.' Ellis said Banyana were not overly concerned they lost number one penalty-taker Linda Motlhalo when she limped off injured, replaced by Bongeka Gamede in the 106th minute, just before the shoot-out. 'She couldn't continue but we were confident we had enough kickers on the pitch, but also confident Andile would make a save or two. 'We just needed to do on the pitch what we had practised in training. Because we have so many players who can take penalties. 'Linda would have been the first, Karabo [Dhlamini] them became the first to step up. She was also one of the walking wounded but the courage and resilience this team has shown, I cannot talk enough about that.' Banyana battled to break down the big, hard-working Senegalese, though had the better of the game in the second half and extra time without being able to produce enough chances, or bury those they did, to settle the game before the shoot-out. 'I think we had a few chances, I think we could have made better decisions in the final third,' Ellis said. 'We had two really great opportunities where if someone just rolled the ball across [goal] it could have been tapped in. But they had a really good chance at the end where we didn't pick up and our hearts were in our [throats]. 'We knew their gameplan and I thought we dealt well with their long ball. The minute we put the ball on the ground that's how the opportunity came for the penalty [for a foul on Magaia in extra time, turned down by the match officials and a VAR review], and I've had messages from home that it was a penalty. 'But we prevailed. Our last two phrases in our team meeting were, 'Outplay them and outlast them', and we outlasted them tonight.'
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7 hours ago
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