Following Banyana Banyana’s 5-0 thrashing by Japan, head coach Desiree Ellis says teams learn a lot more from defeats than wins.
Ellis’ charges were dominated and completely outplayed by the fifth-ranked side in the first of their two international friendlies in Osaka on Saturday. – the next match between the sides is on Tuesday.
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Banyana are using the matches as part of preparations for the upcoming Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) starting in Morocco from 25 July to 16 August.
The 2022 African Champions are in Group B with Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Tanzania at the 2026 event. The continental spectacle is also a qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Brazil.
Meanwhile Ellis admitted her side came up against an excellent team on Saturday and that it is the right kind of test Banyana need before the WAFCON.
“You learn a lot more out of a defeat than what you learn out of a win,” Ellis told SASOL in Sports.
“You know, a lot of lessons to be learned and they were excellent today. They pounced on every mistake, were clinical in front of goal. We had a couple of half chances and maybe better decisions we could have got in.
“But the effort you can’t’ fault the effort. I think the effort was there and we played against a team that was really excellent today.
“This is the test that we want. We played a while ago, international friendly, and these are the tests that you want to be able to see what you need to fix, to see that in similar situations in the future, how you can solve it, what solutions you can come up with.
“And they really tested us today, maximum effort test today, and I thought at moments we looked good, and other moments, you know, we didn’t, because of the quality opposition that we were facing.
“Look, we will obviously look at the post-match analysis and see what we did well and what we didn’t do, and how we can do better, and try to put that into practice.
“There’s not a lot of time. There’s two days, and then we play the next game again, so we will look at that, and hopefully come up with a tactical plan because you have to be tactically disciplined. Come up with a plan and see what we can get out of the game.”