Banyana vs Netherlands: Another test for Desiree Ellis’ charges

Banyana Banyana take on the Netherlands at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday.

South African forward Jermaine Seoposenwe says her team will need the team’s complete focus as they attempt to make it past the Round of 16 at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Banyana became the first ever South African national team, men and women, to make it out of the group stages of a FIFA tournament. This came following a 3-2 win over Italy on Wednesday afternoon to set up the second round clash against the Netherlands in the tournament currently being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

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Kickoff between Banyana and the Dutch is at 4:00

Banyana star Seoposenwe says the team needs to reset.

“I think we are definitely a lot more focused now because the situation is win or go home. (We will need) complete focus going into this match and trying to do our best to see if we get a good result,” said Seoposenwe.

Addressing the criticism the team received after their 2-2 draw against Argentina, Seoposenwe said it did not affect the unity of the team and they will continue to fight for each other.

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“As professionals, you have to take the criticism just as well. At the end of the day there are a lot of things that people say, but I think as a team we understand what we are capable of, who we are and what we have achieved thus far . So if you allow all the external factors to come and create division within the team, that division will show on the pitch.
“So many things have been said about so many players and the coach, and you still just see unity on the pitch, we fight for each other and we continue to play for each other,” added Seoposenwe.

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Banyana coach Desiree Ellis also stated the difference in preparing for the group stages as compared to preparing for the knockout stages.

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“I think the turnaround time and the time in between is short, so you are also trying to manage the freshness as well trying to get ready for the match. That’s the only difference I think. We travelled and we had only two sessions and the game is the next day,” said the Banyana coach.

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