Desiree Ellis demands sharper build-up play from South Africa in Olympic qualifiers

South Africa coach Desiree Ellis says Banyana Banyana must improve their build-up play and become more clinical in front of goal after reaching the third round of the CAF Women’s Olympic qualifiers.

South Africa booked their place in the next stage of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games qualifying campaign with a dominant 7-0 aggregate victory over Madagascar in Bloemfontein.

Despite being pleased with the result, Ellis believes her team still has areas to address before the next round.

“We made about six chances, a little bit of rhythm. We created a few chances in the first half, and spoke about it in the dressing room that sometimes we need to use our flanks,” said Ellis.

“A minute Nox, we created those openings and Ronnel after scoring three goals she was hungry again. It shows the confidence it gives you once you start scoring goals, I think we played very well. I am happy for the results, into the next round but there is still work to be done, a few things we need to work on.

“We need to continue to work on our build ups, our final third because we know we are a team that can create a lot of goals, once we start being clinical we get more results.”

The 62-year-old coach also called for greater patience when South Africa have possession, saying her players must circulate the ball more quickly when openings appear.

“We were on a ball a lot, just that we were not patient enough, we were rushing things a lot. We needed to move quicker, when gaps opened up we needed to rotate the ball quicker,” she added.

“Thembi had a chance, Gabby had a chance as well, and we went into the dressing room to encourage the team to get onto the ball more. Once the first got in, there was always going to be a second and third coming in.”

Ellis says the national team remains open to new players who can demonstrate the consistency required to earn a call-up.

She believes there is scope to strengthen the squad before the FIFA Women’s World Cup intercontinental playoffs, while ensuring the team retains the right balance between youth and experience.

“I think there’s such great talent out there. And there’s a lot of players we can choose from to add onto the squad, unfortunately we are limited to a specific number when we choose the squad,” said Ellis.

“We never close the to deserving players, just need to remain consistent and show their form because we still have some big games coming up. We still need that balance between youth and experience.”