Banyana Banyana players celebrate. Banyana Banyana players celebrate after forward Hildah Magaia scored her team's first goal during against Sweden. Photo: Marty Melville/AFP
Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has shed light on the readiness of Hildah Magaia for their second World Cup group stage match against Argentina on Saturday.
Magaia injured herself in the process of scoring Banyana’s goal during their 2-1 loss to Sweden in the opening game of the group stage at Wellington Regional Stadium on Sunday.
That injury caused doubt on whether Magaia’s will be ready for Banyana’s much-win match against Argentina on Saturday morning in Dunedin.
But as Banyana returned to training at their base, the Porirua Park, on Tuesday for the first time since their clash against Sweden, after Ellis gave the players a day off on Monday, Magaia took part in the session.
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Her right hand was still heavily strapped but after not reporting any pain or discomfort from start to finish that pleased Ellis who lauded her medical team for the job well done.
“As you saw Hildah took part in the whole training session – each and every one had a clean bill of health which is fantastic,” Ellis told the travelling media after the game.
“Going forward we always make sure that we have a clean bill of health which is fantastic from the medical and conditional team for making sure everyone is ready to join training.”
After their training session, Banyana were scheduled to meet for their analysis session on Argentina at the team hotel in Wellington later.
These are the kind of sessions that Ellis looks forward to as her players get to make input on what they must improve on from their previous game and tighten going forward as well.
“The turnaround time is very short. So, we must make sure that we put a lot in tonight as we have an analysis training session. That will be very important,” Ellis said.
“It will be interactive because it’s just not us who put in information but the players finding solutions saying that this or that should have been done. That really helps in making things interactive.”
• Mihlali Baleka is at the Fifa Women's World Cup 2023, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, in partnership with Sasol.
@MihlaliBaleka