Banyana Banyana and Glasgow City midfielder Linda Motlhalo believes South African players can go toe to toe with rest in the world.
Motlhalo said this as Banyana gears up to make their second appearance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand. South Africa are in Group G with Sweden, Italy and Argentina with their opener against the Swedes on Sunday morning (7AM).
At Banyana’s first World Cup in France in 2019, lack of international exposure was one of things many named as a challenge for the team. Four years later there is a women’s League in South Africa, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) launched the Women’s Champions League, and several of the players that were in France earned professional contracts overseas and the team won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations last year.
Motlhalo spoke to iDiski Times Writer Lethabo Kganyago in the current edition of the newspaper, saying Banyana respects the teams they come up against but they can challenge anyone and want to go past the first round.
“In all honesty South African players can go toe to toe with any team. As much as we have respect for other teams when we get on the field there are 11 players against 11 and there is one ball,” Motlhalo told iDiski Times.
“So we can go against any team, anybody, that’s the belief we have and that’s what makes football fun. You know, competing against the best teams and having the hunger and the eagerness to beat them. I believe that we can compete against anybody once we are on the same pitch, when we work as a team and have confidence we can do anything that we want to do.
“The expectation for Banyana Banyana to make it to the next stage is very realistic. We’ve been putting in the work. There is a lot of positivity in the team and there is expectation from us as players as well.
“You can see that we are determined and we are working towards what we really believe that we can achieve, which is making it into the next stage. And that’s just by taking it one game at a time and improving one game at a time to achieve where we want to go. So it is very realistic.”
You can read Motlhalo’s full interview with Kganyago in edition 113 of IDiski Times available on the website.
