Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis wants to say thank you to South Africans for the support. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has urged South African football fans, especially the ones in Soweto, to come out in their numbers when the team hosts Brazil in the first of the two international friendlies at the Orlando Stadium on Friday.
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Ellis and Banyana charges will take on the Brazilians not long after South Africa were crowned the Caf Women’s Africa Cup of nations (Wafcon) champions in Morocco in July and she is expecting fans to fill up the stadium.
Since their Wafcon triumph, the South African senior national women’s have been celebrated all over the country, with the team having been welcomed by 1000s of fans at the OR Tambo International airport on their return from Morocco, where the continental tournament was hosted.
Ellis reckons having a large number of supporters at Orlando will be good for Banyana and it will give them an opportunity to thank them for the support they showed the team during the Wafcon.
s, I think the last time we had fans in the stadium was in Port Elizabeth during the Cosafa Cup (in 2020),” said the Banyana coach just before the team’s training session in Soweto on Thursday.
“Being so close to the people here in Soweto, we are expecting them to come out in their numbers because we want to say thank you to them for supporting us from afar. They were sending us messages and everything else.”
After the game in Orlando, the two nations will lock horns once again at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Monday, with both countries preparing for next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.