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Banyana close in on Olympics place

Brad Morgan

29 August 2011

Banyana Banyana are on the verge of qualification for the 2012 London Olympic Games, thanks to an inspirational performance from Noko Matlou in the first leg of their qualifier against Ethiopia at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday.

Matlou struck twice early on and once late in the game to take Banyana to a 3-0 victory in the two-leg final round of qualifying.

The victory took coach Joseph Mkhonza's record in charge of Banyana to an impressive 12 wins in 14 matches.

'Delighted'

After the match, Mkhonza told the South African Football Association's website: "The Ethiopians applied a lot of pressure on our team, particularly in the second half, and we are delighted to have completed the match with a three-goal advantage without conceding a goal."

Despite the convincing margin of victory, he also cautioned that the tie is not yet over. "There is a lot of homework and hard training to be done before we travel to Ethiopia for the return leg. We have had a good luck at the opponents and know which areas to work on."

Banyana Banyana captain Amanda Dlamini summed up the game, saying: "It was a very competitive match because the Ethiopians were very quick and they did not allow us to break them down the middle.

"This led to us defending very deep in our half. But we are happy with the three goals we scored. We know now how close we are to London, but at the same time can't lose focus as we have another match to play before we can confirm qualification.

'History is beckoning'

"History is beckoning and the goals ease the pressure a little bit, and we just need to work even harder to maintain our lead and win the second leg," said added.

Early on, it looked all too easy for Banyana as they raced into a two-goal lead. They hit the front after only six minutes when Nomathemba Ntsibande fed Matlou on the edge of the Ethiopian area. Showing her speed and finishing skills, the recently crowned South African Sportswoman of the Year rounded the defenders and slid the ball past the goalkeeper.

In the 13th minute Ethiopia's two central defenders were caught square as Matlou raced onto a long ball and then steered it across the goalie for South Africa's second goal.

The visitors fought back and caused their share of problems in the South African defence, but each time there was a player on hand to make the final tackle or save, with Banyana goalkeeper Thoko Mndaweni turning in a tidy performance to keep a clean sheet.

Hat-trick

It looked as if South Africa would take a two-goal cushion into the return leg on 11 September in Addis Ababa, but in injury time of the second half Matlou ensured they could breathe more easily with her third goal.

"South African women's soccer will be represented at the Olympics for the first time next year," Matlou told the Sowetan after bringing her international goal scoring record to 51 in 60 matches.

"We played very well but South Africa managed to score three goals because sometimes you need luck in this game," said Ethiopia's coach Abreham Teklehaymanot.

Very different in Addis Ababa

"We know where we went wrong and have some time to rectify those mistakes. Playing in Addis Ababa will be very different in that the weather will suit us well, we have the advantage of the high altitude, the crowd will be behind us and also we will have some of the players back in action, who missed this match.

"Our weak defence and goalkeeping department let us down, but we will work on that. South Africa is a very good team but we will score the required four goals back home," he said optimistically.

Banyana coach Mkhonza said South Africa will need to start strongly in their away game to take the pressure off of their challenge. "One thing certain is that we need to get an early goal there to unsettle them as they can be very dangerous as we saw in the match," he reckoned.