Ellis elated with opening WAFCON win, Bjorkegren concerned

 Making history continues to look good on Dr Desiree Ellis, the head coach of South Africa’s national team, following her side’s con­vincing 2-0 victory over Ghana in their opening Group C fixture at the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 2024 in Oujda, Morocco.

A punch in the air for Ellis when centre referee, Bouchra Karboubi, blew the final whistle, high fives with her assistant, Thinasonke Mbuli, the rest of the staff on the bench and the players on the pitch depicted the mood in the Banyana Banyana camp.

“We stuck to the game plan really well. If you look at the chances, it was probably even. Andile Dlamini made a couple of saves, they hit the crossbar. We could have gone 3-0 up and when Linda Motlhalo got a chance, we could have gone 4-0 up. We are happy with the result,” Ellis says with a joyous but serious face in reflection.

Under Ellis, South Africa have now gone 12 WAFCON matches without losing in open play thanks to 10 wins and two draws. This particular win changes the status quo between the two teams and tilts the odds to favour South Afri­ca in more ways than one.

Monday’s game was the eighth time that South Africa was facing off against Ghana the most matchups between two teams in the 13-edition history of the conti­nental showpiece.

It was the third time that they were meeting in an opening fixture with Ghana winning twice; 4-0 in both teams’ first ever WAFCON encounter in 1998 as well as at the 2004 edition hosted by South Africa; a 3-0 victory for the Black Queens marking the only time a host nation has lost on the open­ing day of the competition.

“We can still improve on our performance because if you look at the first 15 minutes, they came at us. We could not get out of the press. We fixed a few things and then Linda Motlhalo started getting onto the ball. I call her my magician. Jermaine Seoposen­we, she just showed quality. Our backline was solid. Andile Dlamini in goal kept a clean sheet. I don’t think many have seen Lebohang] Ramalepe play as a winger but today I felt that she did well. Noxolo Cesane usually plays on the other side but she too did well,” Ellis continues as if lost for choice on who to praise within her side.

South Africa are now unbeaten in their last seven WAFCON group games (W6, D1) and this win means that it is the first time that the Banyana Banyana scored more than one goal against the Black Queens of Ghana in the compe­tition.

Of missed chances, a comeback that is noteworthy and a rather decent statistics compilation that can be used as a foundation going forward. Ghana head coach Kim Lars Björkegren stood in the hallway just outside his team’s dressing room after speaking to the press in the post-match press conference in reflective mode to take in his first ever WAFCON appearance.

“I am a little bit disappoint­ed with the result of the game. We played very well. We created enough chances to score a couple of goals. We had 13 shots in the game. I think we were the better team in the first 30 minutes and just parts of the second half. We need to be a little cleaner and clin­ical inside the box because they scored and we didn’t. That’s what football is about. Otherwise, I think that the other things, we did them very well. We hit the post a couple of times and she [Andile Dlamini] made a couple of saves,” Björkegren reflects.

In terms of Motlhalo’s penalty in the 28th minute changing the course of the game, Björkegren feels that, “Yes and no to the pen­alty taking us off balance because they scored again after that. I felt that we came back after that. We came back in the second half, we created a lot of chances and could have come back in the game but it is what it is.”

Ghana will take on Mali in a West African derby on Friday at the Berkane Stadium in their second Group C tie hoping to get their first points at the WAFCON 2024.

Mali are ahead of Ghana on the table after securing a narrow 1-0 victory over Tanzania in a tightly contested Group C game in Ber­kane on Monday evening through a first-half stoppage time effort from Saratou Traoré. —CAF

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