Cape Town - Banyana Banyana’s Thembi Kgatlana has raised serious concerns about the preparations for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup starting in Australia and New Zealand in July.
Kgatlana feels the national women's team should frequently be playing matches against higher-ranked opposition, and they should also stage camps where players can engage regularly and gel as a squad.
In a straight-talking interview with the South African Football Journalists Association (SAFJA) recently, Kgatlana outlined her concerns. Banyana’s hierarchy will do well to ponder her remarks.
According to Kgatlana, there is no justification to say Banyana stands a chance of winning matches at the World Cup because preparations, as it stands now, are inadequate.
"We are still underdogs! Yes, we are not in the group of death, and I hear people saying we have a chance. I believe so too, but it’s going to take more than just saying it," argued Kgatlana.
"We need great preparations, and that starts with playing higher-ranked teams. We need to be in camps even when it’s not FIFA breaks. This will help players that are locally based to play together and get to know each other.
"We should be at a point where we have a good idea of the players we are going to take to the World Cup.
"We should have an idea of how we want to play, what is it that we want to play and, bring in those players. This can be difficult, because the league is not fully professional in South Africa.
"Some players don’t go to training because they must work, and they also have school. This means that we have a short time to prepare for a major tournament like the World Cup.
"But if our SA league was professional, football becomes your everyday job. You are competing at a high level. And I think that’s something that we need to be realistic about, sadly we don’t have that.”
These are concerns that Kgatlana has raised several times and last October she took to social media to drive the point home in a tweet: “We can never emphasise enough the importance of having a fully professional women’s league in South Africa. The intensity and pace are too high when we play European countries. And we are not coping at all.”
The Sasol-sponsored Banyana is in Group G alongside Sweden, Italy and Argentina. She says Banyana are facing an uphill battle because players lack the experience of playing in strong leagues abroad.
Last year Banyana did not fare well against international competition in friendlies. Last October team was humbled 4-1 by Australia, the co-hosts of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
A month earlier, Banyana suffered 3-0 and 6-0 losses to Brazil in friendly internationals in Johannesburg and Durban.
Kgatlana cannot predict how the SA team with its lowly world ranking of 54 will fare in the group stages against Sweden (3), Italy (17) and Argentina (29).
“We’ve played Sweden a couple of times and that doesn’t mean anything because the team that played against Sweden a couple of years ago is longer there," said Kgatlana.
"Half of them are not there or have not been called up or are injured.
"We have a new team and for me that’s worrying. Every time we go into a tournament, we have a new team instead of building up from the team that we have always had and kept over the years. I think that’s where our strength lies – the more time we spend together, understand and know each other, the better we perform.
"For example, when we prepared for the Olympics in 2016 under coach Vera (Pauw), we were together for about six months and we got to understand each other.
"Yes, we did not progress to the next round but for me, we gave a great display of football. It was the best we ever played because we were at a level of understanding each other. It was also because of camping every time there was a chance. Right now, there aren’t too many FIFA breaks, so preparation is going to be key.
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"Yes, we have won the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, but we must be realistic. Our group opponents are all ranked higher than us, and a lot of their players are playing in Europe or in their countries where they have professional leagues. We are still trying to progress to that level.
"It takes a lot for South Africans to step up. It’s about making sure that the conditioning of the players is on point. Ensuring a good environment has been created for the players to perform at a high level.
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"In my opinion, we need more from everyone and that’s why the game needs to be professionalised in South Africa. It would be great if we were almost on the same level when it comes to performance, but we are not.”
Kgatlana has been a year out of the game to recuperate, but has made a remarkable recovery and could be back on the field sooner than expected with her new US club Racing Louisville FC.
IOL Sport