Banyana Banyana captain Refiloe Jane says South Africans wouldn’t be wrong to have expectations of the team doing well at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Banyana are Group G with Sweden, Italy and Argentina at the event starting on 20 July in Australia and New Zealand.
This is Banyana’s second showing at the World Cup following their debut in 2019 in France where they didn’t win one group match.
The players have now arrived in New Zealand after their public bonus payment row with the South African Football Association and it remains to be seen whether the controversy will impact the players’ performances at the tournament.
Speaking to iDiski Times Writer Lethabo Kganyago in edition 109 of the newspaper, Jane said the pressure on the African champions is not misplaced and even the team wants to do better by getting out of the group this time around.
“No it wouldn’t be wrong, it wouldn’t be wrong [to have high expectations]. This is an expectation that’s there for the team,” the Banyan captain told iDiski Times.
“It’s an expectation that we also have for ourselves. We also want to see ourselves advancing to the next round, given our successes previously. So we don’t blame the pressure that’s being put on us.
“Deservedly so we do need that pressure because we can’t keep on going to tournaments and be like ‘we are learning’ like I said earlier on. So we’ve got what it takes and it’s just for us to go out there and not look at the opponent in terms of where they are on the FIFA rankings.
“We just have to do our job and make sure that we advance to the next level. You never know, football is unpredictable, anything can happen. Who knows maybe we’ll come back with the trophy.”
You can read Jane’s full interview with Kganyago in edition 109 of the newspaper available on iDiski Times website.
