Banyana Banyana head coach Dr Desiree Ellis said her side’s 4-0 drubbing of Mali was a statement of the character of the team at the WAFCON tournament in Morocco.
The defending champions scored twice in each half in their final Group C encounter on their way to topping the pool with seven points and setting up a quarter-final clash with Senegal.
Ellis said the first two games weren’t a true reflection of her team and that how they responded on Monday was pure joy and they will use it to fuel themselves further in the competition.
“Look, we knew the two games that we played we are better than that,” said Ellis.
“We consistently worked on what we need to improve, sometimes it doesn’t happen overnight. But today was a statement – a statement of intent, a statement of resilience, a statement of who we are.
“I think there was maybe one or two long balls, everything, the movement of the ball, the quick passing, the rotation, the overloads, the under-laps, everything, big ups to go to the technical team. They worked tirelessly on training.
“We had one training session before the Mali game, but we consistently worked on certain things to get better and today we showed the quality that we have.
“But we need to use this to fuel ourselves to even get better, because it doesn’t matter the result you’re always looking for a room for improvement. And I think today we were applauding certain things on the pitch.
“I mean, we made so many changes at halftime, and we trust each and every player in our squad and the way they just continued with what we started in the first half.
“It was pure joy.”
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