Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says her team were punished for panicking during their friendly match against Denmark which they lost 5-0 on Friday.
South Africa put in a gallant first half performance against 12th ranked Denmark in Aalborg, ending goalless, but the goals flew in at will after the break, showing the gulf in class between the two sides.
The African champions relied mostly on local-based players with stars such as Thembi Kgatlana, Hildah Magaia, Linda Motlhalo and Sinoxolo Cesane missing, except Lithuania-based Thubelihle Shamase, and they paid a heavy price.
“For many of them, having not played against teams of this calibre, we needed to test them and see, do we take them on the journey, and I think a lot of them raised their hands, which makes it very difficult for us,” said Ellis as per SABC.
Ellis picked positives from the heavy loss
“Playing against a top team like Denmark, we said we're coming here to play number 12 and number two [England] in the world, and this was certainly a test for us, especially for the group of players with mostly local players.
“It was a good test for us because the Hollywoodbets [Super League] has shown that it has improved, but it still needs to improve [more] to help us as well.
“Having not played for five months definitely showed towards the end, because you've got to stay concentrated for the full 90 [minutes], and unfortunately we couldn't.”
Ellis admits her team panicked once the Danes broke the deadlock and were not able to withstand the pressure as witnessed in the first half, leading to a scattergun approach in their display.
What really went wrong in Aalborg?
“When we got the ball, we panicked a bit, but there were times when we passed the ball around, created openings to try and go forward, but our final pass was just not there,” she added.
“Because I felt that we rushed it a little bit, instead of staying calmer, but they are very physical and that was something we spoke about [before the game], so you could see we need to beef up a little bit.
“But I'm thankful for the effort that the players put in, and while it's not the result we wanted, they showed their quality in the end.”
Ellis will be relieved to have Kgatlana, Magaia, Motlhalo and Cesane for their next game against European champions England in Coventry on Tuesday, October 29.
