Former Banyana Banyana captain Portia Modise believes the team paid the price for not having Thembi Kgatlana in the squad for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco.
Banyana failed to defend the title they won in Morocco in 2022 after they lost 1-2 to Nigeria in the semifinal on Tuesday, becoming the first team to fail to defend the title.
Kgatlana was not selected for the WAFCON squad due to “personal reasons” and Modise is of the view that Banyana would have done far better if she were part of the team.
“First, leaving home without Thembi Kgatlana was wrong. We needed to have such a player in the tournament. We needed to have a conversation with her to understand how important she is to the nation, because she is dominating where she is playing now,” Modise told Sowetan newspaper.
“As a nation, do we think we can go into a tournament like this without our top players? If you watch all the games, you could see that she was missed. Our group was not that difficult, but I could see we were struggling.
“[But] they had more camps, more preparations and more friendly games during the year [before WAFCON]. Nevertheless, we should give them credit for reaching the semifinal.”
Modise also believes Gabriela Salgado’s injury late in the second half against Nigeria made things worse for Banyana as they failed to cope afterwards. This saw Nigeria score the winning goal right at the end.
“We lost that match after Salgado got injured and the players started to be emotional. Nigeria started to use that on us and we could not concentrate, we could not even defend properly,” she said.
With coach Desiree Ellis having been working without a contract since the 2022 WAFCON, Modise thinks maybe South Africa Football Association (SAFA) should go for another coach.
“If you believe in yourself that you are the best coach, why do you work in an environment that doesn’t give you a contract? Why don’t you respect yourself?
“With all the achievements you brought to the table … and you still don’t have a contract? It’s painful. Maybe it is about time we get new ideas.”
