Banyana jets off to Turkey

THE South Africa women’s national soccer team head coach Desiree Ellis is overjoyed about her side jetting off to the Turkish Women’s Cup in preparation for the Fifa Women’s World Cup later this year.

The Turkish tournament will take place from February 13 to 23, and will feature the likes of, among others, Slovenia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zambia.

The type of opposition that Banyana will face at this preparatory tournament will fit Ellis’s plans, as she seeks to prepare her team for their World Cup group that features Sweden, Italy and Argentina.

Ellis believes the nations they’re going to battle in Turkey will help their adjustment to the different styles of their opponents at the 2023 World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

“We are very excited to be going to the Turkish Cup. In our group at the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, we have Sweden and Italy, who are European opposition, and then obviously we have Argentina, who are South American opposition,” she explained.

She then added: “We are very excited and grateful that we will be playing a European nation (Turkey) in the Turkish Women’s Cup. We also play Uzbekistan, who are Asian, and then finally a South American opponent (Venezuela).

“It is a good start to our preparations and we want to also say thank you to the South African Football Association for the efforts to get us the opposition that we want in terms of European and South American sides.”

The current African champions will play all of these fixtures at the Gold City Sports Complex, in the coastal city of Alanya, and will battle Turkey on February 15, then tackle Uzbekistan on February 18 and finally Venezuela on February 21.