Ellis blames lack of preparation for poor Wafcon run

After their disappointing Women's African Cup of Nations campaign in Morocco, where they finished fourth after losing to Ghana in the third playoff match on Friday, Banyana Banyana coach Desire Ellis pointed to a lack of preparation as the main reason for their failure.

Banyana failed to defend their title, which they won in 2022 in Morocco, as they finished fourth and missed out on the bronze medal.

That finish was the team's worst performance under Ellis, who also reached the 2018 final. Ellis feels they didn't have the same preparations as they did on their way to winning the title in 2022 and suggested that they have to play more friendly matches and have many camps if they are to do better in next year's edition, also in Morocco.

“I don't want to make excuses, but we had more time in 2022 to prepare, a lot more time. Our league started late, so we have to consider how we were going to prepare for this tournament,” Ellis explained.

“And that's what we went about and rotated players to make sure they are fresh. Today [Friday], we had four players in the stand who were injured and we had five outfield substitutes. So, we will go back and look at how we can do better because every tournament you take something out of it.

“In 2018, we looked at how we played, what we were doing and we did a little bit differently in 2022. Now we have to look at how we can do better. If you look at all the countries that are here, how they have improved, everyone has to step up.

“There is a lot of investment and you see that in the countries that are stepping up and we have to follow suit, otherwise we will be left behind.

“We do have the talent, but also, our youth teams need to start qualifying for competitions because that's the experience that other countries may have, their youth teams go to tournaments because that's the experience you can't buy.”

Ellis also feels she is still the right coach to lead the team and that she still believes in the process, but understands the frustrations from the public after their poor campaign.

“Unfortunately, the expectation is always to win and that's the thing with fans, they don't see the bigger picture... sometimes we have to trust the process,” she said.

“We are also a team in transition. We continue trusting the process, but all the fans want is results. We can't compromise who we are and the process.”

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