Swedish women’s national football team in Göteborg ahead of Banyana Banyana match.
Photo: Nicklas Elmrin / Svensk football Facebook
Banyana WC opponents playing matches behind closed doors
Sweden, currently ranked third in the world have been in camp for weeks and are expected to brush off ‘unprepared’ Banyana Banyana.
Swedish women’s national football team in Göteborg ahead of Banyana Banyana match.
Photo: Nicklas Elmrin / Svensk football Facebook
Banyana Banyana kick-off their World Cup campaign against favourites Sweden on 23 July at Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington.
Desiree Ellis’s troops have not only Sweden to content with but Italy and Argentina as well.
In the past 12-18 months, Banyana have not played a team as good as Italy or Sweden and go into the tournament without having tested themselves since their African Cup of Nations truimph last year.
Tough opener awaits Banyana
The game against Sweden, is arguably their most important in the tournament. A loss could put them on a backfoot but not completely out of the World Cup given they play Argentina in their second group match.
Just like Banyana, Argentina have never progressed past the group stages and if there’s any team that Ellis should fee confident about beating, it’s them.
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Banyana’s preparations took a halt in the past few days following their wage despute against Safa which ultimately saw them boycott their send-off match against Botswana. While that was taking place, their first match opponents Sweden were on camp and getting themselves ready for the showpiece.
The 3rd ranked side played top teams like China, England and Norway earlier this year and are set to play the Philippine women’s national football team before their opener.
The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) on Tuesday announced that the Filipinas will play in an “unofficial closed training match” against Sweden on July 17 in Wellington, New Zealand.
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The Phillippines are closely matched with Banyana in terms of rankings and perhaps quality so that should give the Swedish team what to expect. WIth them playing the match behind doors, it eliminates any chance of Banyana’ technical team spotting the team’s weakness a few days before the opener.
Sweden is currently ranked third in the world by FIFA, and features the likes of Arsenal striker Stina Blackstenius and Barcelona forward Fridolina Rolfö, as well as Bayern Munich defender Magdalena Eriksson.
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The team has never won the FIFA Women’s World Cup but reached the finals once in 2003 and have taken the bronze three times.
