KOPANO MONAHENG
TO be considered among the best in soccer rankings, you must beat the best.
Banyana Banyana has already proven that today by defeating Japan women’s team 1-0 a team that is ranked 5th in the world.
Japan defeated Banyana 5-0 in the first match of their two friendlies.
A very interesting game the two nations displayed today.
Banyana midfielder and captain Refiloe Jane, were happy for the win:
“We made a lot of corrections from the first game,” she said.
“And we sat down as a team and we decided that there was no way that we’re going to go home with two loses so it was up to us to put everything into this game.”
This was Jane’s 150 cap today and she celebrated it with a win. But being part of the Banyana team is a blessing.
“Not everyone gets a chance to be in the national team. It’s a dream come true. So every chance given to be here. I’m very humbled and grateful for that opportunity.”
Banyana are ranked 58th in the world, and 2nd in Africa, but the girls have proven that they can beat anyone that comes their way.
The girls showed character, resilience, and determination to bounce back with a historic victory. This result shows that South Africa can compete with and overcome some of the world’s strongest teams.
Desiree Ellis, Banyana Banyana coach, applaud the technical staff for the good results today.
“The technical team put in a lot of work yesterday in rectifying what we needed to rectify. It’s also a little bit more recovery from the jet lag, but you cannot fault the effort, you know, big save at the beginning and then everybody putting their bodies on the line and shifting, shifting because we worked a lot on that,” said the coach.
“And you know, they came at us. But you know the plan, we’ve got to give credit to the analyst. The plan was spot on, and then the coaches, the technical team, for putting that in and consistently working on that because we met one day before the first game, really, to work on it,” concluded Desiree.
