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Banyana Banyana training ahead of the two international friendly matches.
South Africa’s national women’s soccer team is back in camp in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal this week, gearing up for the two international friendly matches against Algeria, as part of their preparations for the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations starting in July.
The conditions in Durban will also be similar to those in Morocco during the tournament.
With this year’s edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations postponed to July and August, Banyana Banyana’s coach and management team is hard at work keeping the players physically strong and mentally fresh.
Coach Desiree Ellis is delighted to have secured the two friendly games against Algeria at such short notice.
“Lucky to have gotten a friendly at such short notice, everybody has planned. Already it is a good opponent another north African opponent. We have played west African teams and so on, now we are playing a different type of team, that’s also possession based and coming to Durban is probably similar to what we will face in Wafcon weather-wise because it is going to be extremely hot by the time we get to June/July, which is already winter in South Africa, so this is really ideal,” says Ellis.
Ellis says that a big part of their focus, ahead of the first match on Tuesday afternoon will be their finishing.
It is an aspect of their game in which they struggled with in the previous edition of the Wafcon and during the Cosafa Cup earlier this year.
“Coming here, there’s obviously a lot of things we need to work on. We have also seen in our final third, we are a team that can create a lot of chances. So we are working a lot on that as well. It’s not going to happen overnight but that’s one area I feel that if we get that right we score a lot more goals because we are creating but it’s just the decision making in the final third, maybe the movement in the final third. So we are working a lot on that,” says Banyana Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis.
The first match against the Algerians is at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu and kick-off is at 4pm.
Banyana Banyana is ready for the international friendlies with Algeria in Durban. Coach Desiree Ellis say they are ready for these games that will be played in at Princes Magogo Stadium on 14 April while the second game will be at King Zwelithini Stadium on Friday 17 April both… pic.twitter.com/FwkJZ7hlPm
— SABC News (@SABCNews) April 9, 2026
