Sasol Banyana Banyana’s preparations for the African Women’s Championships got-off on a positive base on Saturday afternoon, 07 June. The South African Women’s National Team beat neighbours Botswana 4 – 0 in an International friendly match played in a packed Vaal University of Technology Stadium.

The 9^th edition of the Women’s Championships will be held in Namibia from 11 – 25 October this year.

The match came after the Union of Comoros withdrew from honouring the second leg of the qualifiers.

Coach Vera Pauw was impressed with the team’s performance, and believes that things will get better from here.

“The ladies played very well, they were comfortable in passing each other the ball and it shows that they are getting better and adapting to playing together,” said Pauw.

Sasol Banyana Banyana scored three goals in the first stanza of the match, and only managed to slot home one goal in the second half.

“We just need to work on making sure that we are accurate in the final third. Yes, Botswana played a defensive game, yet we missed a couple of good chances. It shows that we are improving in our attack, but we need to play against opponents who play an attacking game as well, so that we can be able to test our defence,” she concluded.

Striker Leandra Smeda registered two goal in the match. The 25 year old player who plies her skills for the University of the Western Cape in the Sasol league, already has four goals under her name, which she scored in the 13-0 win against the Union of Comoros.

“I’m pleased with the results, we continued from where we left off against Comoros, and this shows that we are growing as a team. I’m also happy with finding the back of the net again, I have improved in my game, but I have to continue working hard,” she said.

Sasol Banyana Banyana will be playing more friendly matches in the coming months ahead of the African Women’s Championships, which will be used as qualifiers for the 2015 Women’s World Cup.