Desiree Ellis, the Banyana Banyana coach, showed that she is one of the finest sports coaches in South Africa when she guided her team to a fourth consecutive Cosafa Cup victory, beating Botswana 2-1 in the final.
A former captain of the national team herself, during a footballing career which saw her earn 32 international caps, Ellis was named the CAF Women’s Coach of the Year in 2018 after Banyana Banyana had finished second in the Women’s Afcon, while also qualifying for the Women’s World Cup for the first time.
She is a member of the South African Sports Coaching Association and the Board and Members would like to congratulate her, and celebrate with her, on another phenomenal achievement in winning the Cosafa Cup.
In her squad selection Ellis opted to combine young talent with a bit of experience and introduced a different team to the tournament from what South Africans were expecting.
Speaking after her team’s triumph, Ellis expressed her joy as she looked back to the first day she selected her squad dominated by youngsters and how they have worked hard to make it to the final and walk away victorious.
“It’s been 25 days and today was the day we had been working towards. We challenged the players consistently about raising their hands and making their mark in this tournament and I think the analysis by our analyst was spot throughout this tournament. We were in control of the game from the start and got an early goal though we got a bit sloppy later on and allowed them back in the game,’’ said Ellis.
“During the cooling break and halftime we had to remind our players that the game was not over and also reminded them about the game plan.”
“This is a young team, they will learn and grow. When the final whistle went, we were just proud of this group of players,’’ she added.
