Desiree Ellis has urged Banyana Banyana to block out the unusual circumstances surrounding Friday’s Olympic qualifier against Madagascar and focus on delivering the ruthless performance that has sometimes eluded them on the continental stage.
Madagascar’s home leg of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games qualifier will be played at the Free State Stadium, despite South Africa being the ‘away’ side, after the island nation was unable to provide a suitable venue.
There will also be no spectators, with Madagascar requesting that Friday’s match be played behind closed doors.
Rather than allowing the strange setting to unsettle her players, Ellis believes Banyana have experienced enough of African football to recognise the psychological element and move on.
“We know sometimes it’s psychological games, but we’ve played in Africa and we’ve been through a lot of things, so it’s just something that we will brush off and make sure that we get the result,” Ellis said.
Banyana will effectively have home conditions for both legs, with the return scheduled for Tuesday at the same venue, but Ellis knows that advantage will count for little if they fail to put Madagascar under pressure from the outset.
“We have to really make sure that we start well,” Ellis said. “Games have shown that if you don’t take the bull by the horns from the start, you end up having to struggle to break down an opponent, struggling to put the ball in the back of the net.”
That warning comes with the recent Women’s Africa Cup of Nations still fresh in Ellis’ mind. Banyana created opportunities in several matches in Morocco but were not clinical enough to turn them into results.
“We probably should have beaten Tanzania, had very good opportunities even against Morocco, even against Burkina Faso,” Ellis said. “And we need to start taking those chances because it was shown during Wafcon that if you don’t take your chances, the result doesn’t go your way.”
It is a lesson Ellis wants carried directly into the Olympic campaign, with Banyana needing to combine their attacking threat with defensive discipline.
“We know we’re going to create opportunities and when we create those opportunities, we’ve got to make sure that we put it in the back of the net,” she said. “Keeping a clean sheet is also really important.”
The stakes are significant. South Africa have not been to the Olympics since Rio 2016. Now they face a considerably longer route back to the Games. CAF’s qualification process consists of five knockout rounds, with Banyana entering directly in the second round. Only two African nations will ultimately qualify for Los Angeles.
Ellis, though, is determined that Banyana do not allow the size of the task to distract them from the immediate challenge. For now, Madagascar are the only opponents occupying Ellis’ thoughts, though the coach is also using the camp to prepare for another major challenge next month when Banyana return to action in the World Cup play-offs.
“We’ll be preparing for Madagascar, but also looking at how we can get the team to be a better version of themselves come November,” she said.
With the first leg taking place in an empty stadium, Ellis hopes the second encounter will provide a very different atmosphere. The Free State Stadium will be open to supporters for Tuesday’s return, with the coach urging the Bloemfontein public to turn out.
“We’re hoping that the second game they come out and fill up the stadium to show Madagascar what they’ve missed by not having fans in the stadium,” Ellis said.
