Ten-women Banyana Banyana kicked off their Cosafa Women’s Championship campaign on a high note with a fighting 2-1 win against Madagascar in their opening fixture in front of a near-capacity crowd at Wolfson Stadium on Wednesday.
Goals from Khanya Xesi and Nothando Vilakazi ensured the national women’s team got a full three points after having to play the last few minutes with a player short after Thato Letsoso was shown a second yellow in the 80th minute.
Prior to the game coach Desiree Ellis stressed the importance of winning their opening match saying collecting the three points would ease the pressure on the players and also create positive momentum in the team.
Banyana’s early arrival in the city last week seemed to have helped them as they did not struggle playing in the windy weather.
Banyana were fired up from the word go and gave Madagascar little space to play.
Their first attempt on goal came less than a minute into the game with Refiloe Jane’s header just missing the target.
A minute later Vilakazi also tried her luck but her strike went over the crossbar.
Banyana’s Xesi put her side in the lead after her attempt beat Madagascar shotstopper Vero Andrianandrasana in the 18th minute.
The national side kept on knocking at the visitors goalposts in search of a second goal.
After a failed attempt early in the first half Vilakazi made sure her second strike found the back of the net to extend the Banyana scoreline to 2-0.
Madagascar were awarded a penalty after Irac Floriette was fouled inside the box. It was Genevieve Razafindramidina who converted from the spot making it 2-1.
The pace of the match slowed down towards the end of the first half.
In the second half, Banyana continued with the attacking play and kept their dominance in the match. However, their attempts at goals were fruitless.
Letsoso was sent straight to the changeroom after she was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on one of the Madagascar players.
Banyana are defending champs of the tournament, having also won in 2002, 2006 and in 2008.
Pressure is on the Banyana players to defend their title more especially so that the event is taking place in South Africa.
Banyana’s performance in Port Elizabeth over the next two weeks is of utmost importance as they also have an eye on the African Women’s Championship to be contested in Ghana, in November.
The continental championship is a qualifier event for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in France in 2019. So Banyana will know just how important the next few months are going to be in the bigger picture.
Thursday’s games are:
10am: (Group C) Zimbabwe v Namibia 1pm: (Group B) Cameroon v Mozambique
3.30pm: (Group B) Zambia v Lesotho.
All matches at Wolfson Stadium...