Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis has challenged her players to chase an early goal in the second leg of their Olympics qualifying match against Nigeria on Tuesday, April 9.
South Africa are looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg in Abuja as they aim for a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Ellis’ ladies struggled to break the Super Falcons last Friday with Rasheedat Ajibade scoring the only goal that separated the two teams from the penalty spot.
Ahead of Tuesday’s return fixture in Pretoria, Ellis believes her team can do better than Friday’s performance and they are set for any event during the game.
“We have looked at the footage [first game] as well, we know we are better than what we showed in Nigeria. We can do way better than that, and I think the second half showed how well we can play. It is a match we have to win,” Ellis told SAFA.
“We have to put everything into it to make sure that we get the goal early to be able to kickstart from there. We know it won’t be easy, Nigeria got the one-goal advantage and we have to prepare for every eventuality.”
South Africa are hoping to return to the women’s football event at the Olympic Games since 2016 while Nigeria are yet to play in the quadrennial festival since 2008.
