Women W/Cup 2023: Shape up or miss out Bayana coach warns players
Players of Reigning African Women Champions Bayana Bayana have been told to improve on their performances or risk missing world Cup action in Australia and New Zealand.
Coach of the side Desiree Ellis dished out the warning even as she prepares to face Australia in a friendly encounter in London on Saturday. She said though her squad is good enough,there is need to cut out defensive errors and ensure more clinical delivery in front of goal.
Banyana will face Australia in London on Saturday in what will be their second friendly in preparation for the World Cup taking place in Australia and New Zealand next year.
Despite winning Wafcon this year, the team suffered 9-0 demolition in the hands of Brazil last month, a result which 59 year old Ellis says is not palatable.
“We’ve analysed the footage and we all agree it was not a great moment for all of us,” Ellis told reporters.
“We know that we are better and we’ve got to be better. We’ve shown we can play against these teams and to play them early is better so we can make sure we sort things out instead of playing them right before the World Cup.”
Ellis said she expected a tough test against 12th-ranked Australia, but added that her players needed to “trust in their own abilities” in order to get a result.
“It’s another top country so we need to be better in all departments, especially defensively. We speak about minimising mistakes which must come to an end because that is really costing us. When we’re on the ball, we need to be braver and trust ourselves and we need to be more clinical in front of goal.
“We need to trust our own abilities. Sometimes on the pitch we don’t trust each other but we are good enough to play against these teams.”
With many players not making the current squad, Ellis said there were still chances for players to stake a claim in the World Cup squad.
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“Once we get the core group, we will decide, but we will always leave the door open because other players can raise their hands. We can never close the door, but we will be working with a core group of players after this game.
“Along the way we lose some players and we will gain some players and players have now got to step up and if you don’t step up, we leave you behind and take others on our journey,” concluded Ellis.