WATCH | Banyana coach Ellis defends senior players after a disappointing Wafcon

Amid calls that the squad should be revamped with younger players after an underwhelming Wafcon in Morocco recently, Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has come to the defence of the senior players, insisting they were still doing the job.

Banyana, who won what remains their first and only Wafcon title in Morocco in 2022, struggled at this year’s competition, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by the hosts in Rabat a fortnight ago.

Amid calls that the squad should be revamped with younger players following an underwhelming Wafcon in Morocco recently, Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has come to the defence of the senior players, insisting they were still doing the job.Video: @Sihle_NdebeleSK pic.twitter.com/QQ5cAhnFIG— Sowetan (@Sowetan1981) August 19, 2026

Many believe Banyana should have rebuilt the squad after the 2022 success, chalking up their poor run at this year’s Wafcon to the ageing squad that had 16 players who were there in 2022 when they became champions of Africa.

Even so, Ellis is of the view that her tried and tested troops are still adding value.

“People always look at people’s ages and think that’s it. I think Noko [Matlou, who played a big role in Banyana’s Wafcon triumph in 2022] played until the age of 39,” Ellis insisted.

“If I were to listen to people saying ‘she’s old, she must go’ where would we be now? If you look at the experienced players in the team, they still do the job. Look, there’s something that you cannot buy and that’s experience.”

The Banyana tactician argued that they still have younger players in the set-up, although they remain cautious about throwing them in straight away.

“We are of the opinion that we always blood new young players slowly rather than just throw them in. You throw them in, they have a bad game, the media turns it around and says we should have protected them, so we’ve got to strike that balance,” said Ellis.

“Isabella [Ludwig] is 23, Ronnel [Donnelly] is 21, Lonathemba [Mhlongo] is 24, so we do have young players in our squad that we are blooding in slowly.

“Football is a matter of opinions. One day the team wins and everybody is doing a great job, and the next minute the team loses and there’s too many old players in the team.”

By losing to Morocco in the quarterfinals, SA missed out on automatic World Cup qualification. However, Banyana kept their hopes alive after beating Nigeria 2-1 to secure a spot in the intercontinental playoffs, with the draw billed for Zurich on Thursday.