Desiree Ellis not taking 'tough' Senegal lightly in Wafcon quarter-finals

BANYANA Banyana’s spirited performance against Mali in their final Group C match of the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) on Monday did more than send the defending champions to the quarter-finals but it also strengthened coach Desiree Ellis' confidence in her charges.

Banyana will host free-scoring Senegal in Saturday’s second quarter-final at Honneur Stadium in Oudja, where they played all their group matches.

Even though Senegal finished third in Group A behind hosts Morocco and Banyana’s southern African neighbours Zambia, Ellis feels the west Africans have done enough to show that they mean business.

“Senegal? They’ve shown in a very difficult group that they can toughen it up with the best. So things are once again not going to be easy (against them in the quarter-final),” said Ellis.

“I don’t think any game has been easy at the Wafcon and that is evidence to the fact almost everyday in the continent you’ve got teams now playing.

“Malawi they are not even here (in Morocco) but they are busy preparing for the qualifiers elsewhere.

“We have to give it to the federations that have been giving the teams an opportunity,” Ellis added even though her side faced a long list of off field problems before even kicking a ball in Morocco.

Senegal and Mali both finished as the best third finishers. However, Senegal are not to be taken lightly as they have scored six goals- only Banyana and Morocco are so far better with seven goals each in the group stages.

“This is all good for the tournament because it means you cannot predict the outcomes of games,” said Ellis.

“The games are tough and we will have to be on top of our game against Senegal. They’ve shown against Zambia and against Morocco that they mean business”

Ellis labelled their four-goal drubbing of Mali on Monday as a statement.

“We have made our statement and shown what we can do, we will have to be better in all departments (against) Senegal,” said Ellis.

The coach has also been impressed by individual performances, including that Ellis young striker Ronnel Donelly, who opened her national goal account against Mali on Monday having made her debut in the tournament.

“What a debut goal for Ronnel. We’ve been working on a few things at training. For her she recently got her first cap and now her first goal, I’m sure she will be wanting more,” enthused Ellis. 

“It’s a team effort and we must also thank the technical team for working tirelessly behind the scenes.”