{"id":16204,"date":"2025-11-26T15:04:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T13:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/banyana-banyana-prepare-for-morocco-friendly\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:31:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:31:28","slug":"banyana-banyana-prepare-for-morocco-friendly","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/banyana-banyana-prepare-for-morocco-friendly\/","title":{"rendered":"Banyana Banyana prepare for Morocco friendly"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Banyana Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis,says next week\u2019s international friendly against Morocco will give new players in her team a taste of what to expect at next year\u2019s Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) tournament in that country.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The team has been in camp in Johannesburg since Monday, preparing for the match against Morocco which will see the tournament, expanded from 12 to 16 teams, in 2026.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The bulk of the squad of 23 locally based players currently in camp, are new faces and will experience conditions in Morocco for the first time.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And while they have been part of the team that played a role in Banyana Banyana\u2019s 2026 WAFCON qualifying campaign, most weren\u2019t part of the team that won the tournament in 2022.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Ellis says playing Morocco will give them an opportunity to have a look at some of the more inexperienced players.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>She says it will also give them a taste of what to expect at next year\u2019s WAFCON tournament in Morocco.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe wanted to make sure that we utilise this window and going to Morocco, I think it\u2019s a great move because you are going to a place you\u2019ll be visiting in a couple of months. Players who weren\u2019t there in 2022 will experience the country,\u201d says Ellis.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>While the match will be a friendly, Captain Refiloe Jane says the team will want to end the year on a high. A win will be a morale booster for players ahead of next year\u2019s tournament.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be important for the team to get a positive result against Morocco, that can be a good confidence boost for the team, and we also hope youngsters can get experience,\u201d says Jane.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Banyana Banyana will depart for Morocco on Friday with the international friendly against the 2026 WAFCON hosts to be played next Tuesday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14105,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-16204","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The team has been in camp in Johannesburg since Monday.","published_date":null,"news_description":"The team has been in camp in Johannesburg since Monday.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20112,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16204\/revisions\/20112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}