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Olympic Qualifier: 'We must be on top' - Ellis tasks Banyana against Botswana

South Africa women's head coach Desiree Ellis says her side must be on top of their game for the duration to overcome Botswana in Tuesday's Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifier in Soweto.

Banyana Banyana played out a 0-0 draw against the Zebras in the second round, first leg tie at the Botswana National Stadium on Friday.

The Cosafa Cup champions are bidding to qualify for their third Olympic Games in succession, but they must negotiate past Botswana despite missing a few key players, including Thembi Kgatlana. 

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Ahead of Tuesday's clash, the 56-year-old coach has assured that Banyana will not leave anything to chance at Orlando Stadium.

"Botswana did well with their game plan. We could play as well as we wanted to," Ellis told the media.

"We are disappointed in ourselves that we could not play our passing game and creating chances. The plan that we had, we could not execute it well.

"We own the fans back home a very good performance and it is going to take a good showing to overcome against Botswana.

"It's always difficult playing them and there is a lot more rivalry than people think. That's why the games have been close. 

"When you score 0-0 in the first leg, the opposing team are always at an advantage in the second leg. We got to make sure we score the first goal and dictate the tempo and pace of the game.

"Being 1-0 up, the game might open up and that could create more opening for us. They have a good counter that could punish us and we have to be aware of that. 

"We just have to stay calm because we had the same situation against Malawi and we cope. In football, anything can happen.

"We've got to be on top of our game for the full duration of the match and make sure we secure the result that we want."

The winner between South Africa and Botswana will face Zambia, who zoomed past 2016 Olympic participants Zimbabwe in their qualifier.

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