3 days ago
Ellis wary of fatigue ahead of Banyana semifinal clash against Nigeria
Having played 120 minutes against Senegal before winning their quarterfinal 4-1 on penalties on Saturday, Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is concerned about fatigue.
South Africa meet Nigeria in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations of Nations semifinals on Tuesday (6pm, SA time) at Stade Larbi Zaouli in Casablanca, Morocco.
Banyana struggled to overcome the tough Lionesses of Terenga until penalties came to the rescue with goalkeeper Andile Dlamini saving two of them. The tough south-vs-west battle in Oujda had ended in a goalless draw after extra time.
Nigeria thumped Zambia 5-0 in their quarterfinal on Friday.
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โฝ๏ธ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: Bambanani Mbane converts and send Banyana Banyana to the semi-finals!
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The semifinal between the two powerhouses of African women's football will be hugely anticipated after South Africa beat record 11-time winners Nigeria in the group stage of the 2022 Wafcon, also in Morocco, on the way to Banyana's first title. The 2-1 loss was the Super Falcons' first in the group stages in 20 years.
Ellis is concerned her team night not have had enough time to recover for the matchup on Tuesday.
'We are not thinking about Nigeria right now, we will think about the next match tomorrow [on Sunday]. Let's celebrate what we have done,' Ellis said after Saturday's match.
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โฝ๏ธ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: Andile Dlamini once again denies Senegal!
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โ SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) July 19, 2025
'We won't overthink anything because we want to celebrate what we have done. As a technical team, we are already standing on one side talking about how we are going to plan and how we are going to prepare because 120 minutes with a day less to prepare and a day to travel takes a lot [out of everyone].'
Ellis praised Banyana's resilience against Senegal and hopes to see the same against Nigeria.
'We have been practising penalties and we knew who our kickers were going to be and that's why we made the changes we made. We always knew Andile could save one or two; she had done [that] before.
'This was our first penalty shoot-out victory in the Wafcon. We lost it in the 2006 and 2018 finals. I don't have enough words to describe this team โ the resilience, the courage, the never-say-die attitude and the willingness to fight for each other.
'No matter what they threw at us, we were able to withstand it.'
