17 July 2022 – Banyana Banyana have their eyes fixed on the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semi-final encounter against Zambia on Monday, 18 July at the Stade Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca, (kickoff 19h00pm).
Zambia qualified for their first ever World Cup while the SASOL-sponsored Banyana Banyana will be making their second consecutive appearance at the tournament.
The last time the two sides met was in February 2022 for an international friendly match where the Copper Queens thumped Ellis’ side 3-0 with goals from Barbra Banda (2 goals) and Avell Chitundu. Tokyo Olympic star Banda will, however, be noticeably absent on Monday and Banyana will be hoping this works in their favour.
Coach Desiree Ellis said her side will focus on booking a place in the WAFCON final and try to win the elusive title.
“It’s a big game, and if we want to achieve one of our objectives, we have to get a positive results going forward,” said Ellis.
“We have played Zambia on many occasions and as much as we know them, we also think they know our strengths and weaknesses. But we have to execute our game plan.”
The coach was accompanied by Banyana roving forward Jermaine Seoposenwe at the mandatory Match Day -1 Press conference.
Seoposenwe, who has had an outstanding tournament so far, said the team was determined to make the country proud.
“We are trying to focus and use this time to rectify the mistakes that we made in the previous games.” said Seoposenwe .