Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has urged her African champions to leave it all out on the pitch in their quest to qualify for Paris 2024 later this year.
Ahead of tonight’s 7.30pm Olympic women’s football tournament qualifying playoff second leg, South Africa trail 1-0 after Friday’s defeat.
Ellis is under no illusions that the showdown at Loftus Versfeld will be a tough encounter. But she is confident that her span can take full advantage of their homeground advantage and turn the tide.
The Kaapse legend tells the Safa media team: “We’re aware that it’s a two-legged match.
“We wanted to get a positive result in Nigeria, but that didn’t happen. But we had a good second half [in Abuja] and if we can build on that
“We all know it’s a big match, we know the winner over the two legs ultimately goes to the Olympics.
“We want to be on that plane and we will put everything in. There are no second chances. We have to score and get the goal back as early as we can.
“We’re coming up against a team that is leading 1-0 and we have to be ready for every eventuality. It’s do or die and we have to go for it. Playing at home, we have shown that we can score goals, so we have to throw caution to the wind.”
Meanwhile, former UWC star Sinoxolo Cesane has joined the squad for tonight’s clash.