Banyana v Argentina: Do or Die for Desiree Ellis’ charges

Banyana Banyana face-off against Argentina in a must-win in match on Friday.

The South African women’s national team narrowly lost to Sweden 2-1 in their opening game of the 2023 Women’s World Cup on Sunday. The defeat means that Desiree Ellis and her charges need to beat Argentina to stay in the tournament of Friday.

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The South Americans also lost their opener in a similar fashion to Banyana having conceded a late goal.

BANYANA NEEDS TO WIN AGAINST ARGENTINA TO STAY IN THE TOURNAMENT

Speaking after a difficult loss to Sweden, Ellis was happy with the way her players executed the game plan and she further explained the thought process behind the selection of her starting lineup.

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“We knew that we are a team that also plays from the back and we needed players that were good on the ball and also defensively good,” said the Banyana coach.

“We knew that if we were in trouble, Kaylin would kick us out of trouble. She did this on many occasions and that is why we made those changes. As I said, we have been training with those changes for a long time just to make sure everyone understands the game plan. We had cover in every position and who would come on if we needed to change the system.”

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A win should give Ellis’ charges momentum going into the final game. A draw is also not the worst result but Banyana would then need to beat Italy in their final group match to have any chance of progressing to the round of 16.

Their match with Argentina kick-off at 02:00(SA time).

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