Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has weighed in on the absence of captain Thembi Kgatlana from the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).
South Africa will begin the defence of their title in Morocco next month but the travelling party will not have former African Player of the Year Kgatlana, who withdrew from the tournament for personal reasons.
That has left fans worried that the striker’s absence will weaken the team but Ellis, who revealed her final squad of 26 on Monday, is staying upbeat.
Banyana coach confident of great WAFCON
“Look, there’s no two ways about it, she's one of the top players in the country,” Ellis told SABC.
“But if you look at 2022 when it came to the later stages of the tournament [WAFCON], other players stepped up. If you look over the year, we went to Senegal, we had a different group.
“[When] we played Denmark, we had a different group. Thembi came in for Hilda [Magaia] and a few other players came in for England, but didn't go to Jamaica with a lot of the senior players. Had a February camp with a lot of young players, you know, played Mali, we had a few players come in and then played Zambia and Botswana. We didn’t have some players come in.”
The veteran coach feels Kgatlana’s absence is a chance for others to grab the opportunity not just for the tournament but for the future as well.
Why is Ellis not worried over Kgatlana’s absence?
“So, there’s been moments where we’ve looked at other players and given other players an opportunity. And yes, it’s not disappointing but it’s a moment where we don’t have Thembi, but we’ve shown that we’re not a team that relies on one individual,” she added.
“When you look at our goal scorers, it’s different goal scorers and it’s another opportunity for someone else to step up again.”
From the initial squad of 28 that had been named earlier this month, only Casey Gordon and Nthabiseng Majiya were left out, but they will be on standby.
Banyana Banyana will travel to Morocco on Tuesday June 24 ahead of the tournament, set to take place from July 5-26, with South Africa in a Group B that has Mali, Tanzania and Ghana.
