The South African Senior Women faced the Belgian Senior Women in their second Group C fixture in the Cyprus Women’s Cup on Friday, and came out 1-0 victors over their opponents.
Midfielder Amanda Dlamini described the match as a tough competition against their European counterparts, but says they are satisfied after coming away with the victory.
“It was a very tough game against Belgium, they gave us a good run and that is what we needed as a team, to compete with the best in Europe,” says Dlamini.
“The match was very challenging in all departments, we ran very hard in both halves. We did well in creating chances, and one of them resulted in a goal.
“We could have converted more but we are satisfied with the win and we know we can improve from here,” adds the midfielder.
Dlamini feels, despite the positive result, their overall performance against Belgium will still improve, but also warns of complacency ahead of their remaining fixtures in the group.
“It will get better with time, and after a big like game this we can get big-headed but we need to refocus as we have one more game to go in the group stages.
“We must again strategize as to how we are going to face our opponents, and plan thoroughly, like we did against Belgium and I believe we can do well in that match,” added Dlamini.
Head coach of Banyana Banyana Vera Pauw was ecstatic that the hard work that started months ago is slowly starting to pay-off.
“It was a tense game, especially late in the match, because this is one of the top countries in women’s football,” says Pauw.
“Although they are not going to the FIFA Women’s World Cup they were very close, so we have won against one of the big nations and that is fantastic, because the game was in our hands and we could take a lot of initiative.
“It feels good to see the work that started 10 months ago starting to pay off, we have a bright future as a team.
“I have always said that we are so mobile, and if we can get that into team work, we can grow to the top,” she adds.
The team will resume training today to complete preparations for the next clash with the Czech Republic.
Banyana are currently second in Group C, with three points from two games, while their next opponents are in third place with one point from the same amount of games.