Captain of the South African Senior Women’s National Team, Janine van Wyk, believes they have seen enough from The Netherlands to can cope the second time around.
Captain of the South African Senior Women’s National Team, Janine van Wyk, believes they have seen enough from The Netherlands to can cope the second time around.
The two nations lock horns in an international friendly match at the Mandemakers Stadium in Waalwijk, Netherlands on Tuesday, 7 June 2016 – the second meeting in three days.
The first clash, which was played on Saturday, 4 June, ended 1-0 in favour of the home side.
The Sasol-sponsored Banyana are using this match to prepare for the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympic Games scheduled for August.
Van Wyk says they surprised the hosts with the kind of display they put up.
“We put up a really good performance. This was the first top team we played in a very long time and it was a good test to see where we are in terms of progress. To concede in the opening minutes was a huge let down for the team because we wanted to showcase what we are made of. It took a while for us to get settled but we were able to step up our performance and showed that we can hold our own. We had some good moments in the game, also had scoring chances but we did not capitalise on them,” said Van Wyk.
“A lot of the players in the team haven’t played at that level so it was a bit hard for them to adapt but in the second half we had the belief. I think we respected them a lot going into the game but we fought back and showed good character.”
The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana players are well aware that the second clash will not be any easier, but they will be ready.
“We will use the second game to improve on the gains of the first match. Overall we did well and the Netherlands didn’t expect us to play the way we did. Tuesday will be a much different game. We know what they are about and they also know what we are about but if we show teamwork again we could come out with a good result. I also feel we have the confidence to play our game,” added Van Wyk.
The skipper missed out on an equaliser in the dying minutes of the game with a ferocious freekick.
“I still dream about that. I continue to practice my freekicks at training and I was hoping the ball would go in but the keeper pulled off a great save. Hopefully it will come. The good thing is that each game that we play gets us one step closer to the Olympic Games so we have to take each and every second from the match to learn from it, and get more experience going to Rio knowing what the level is of the teams we are going to face,” she concluded.
Kickoff on Tuesday is at 19h00.
Banyana Banyana will have their final training session at the match this evening (Monday, 6 June).