23 October 2023 – Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says her charges will not underestimate the Democratic Republic of the Congo when the two countries meet in an away 2024 CAF Women’s Olympic qualifier at the Stade de Martyrs stadium on Wednesday.
The Sasol-sponsored South African senior women’s team had their Match-day minus one training session on Tuesday afternoon, which was the first outfield session since the team arrived in DR Congo on Monday morning.
Linda Mothalo and Faith Nokuthula arrived on Tuesday afternoon to boost Ellis’ selection pool after a few withdrawals due to various reasons.
Ellis cautioned that her team would need to thread very carefully when the second-ranked Banyana Banyana face the 15th-placed hosts in this first leg encounter.
“We travelled really well, had a good night sleep and we were warmly welcomed by the federation. It is the big game on Wednesday and it is an away match for us,” she said. “We are looking to get a positive resultsto make the home leg on Monday easier. But we know it won’t be easy, [DRC Congo] had a really good result against Benin, so we know we are in for a difficult game. But I feel we have enough in our team to get a positive result.”
Banyana will travel home after the match and land back in South Africa on Thursday morning to continue with preparations for the second leg to take place on Monday, 30 October at Orlando Stadium.
Tickets to the match at home at Orlando Stadium are free and can be collected from the stadium. The tickets will be available for collection at the Soweto venue from Thursday 26 October 2023.
Both games will be live on SABC Sport. For further updates, supporters can follow Banyana Banyana across all SAFA social media pages.