Nigeria and South Africa learn lessons from back-to-back friendly defeats

Women's World Cup-bound duo South Africa and Nigeria admit they have learned a lot from back-to-back friendly defeats against Brazil and USA respectively.

South American champions Brazil outclassed Banyana Banyana 6-0 in Durban on Monday to complete a successful trip to South Africa, after beating their hosts 3-0 in the first friendly last Friday.

South Africa coach Desiree Ellis thinks her players will learn from the mistakes made during their double header.

"More of these matches will definitely test us," she said.

"We still have a lot of work to do. The World Cup is not tomorrow, it is about a year from now. We wanted a test like this to see where we are.

"We take the learning out of this as we try to improve with our fitness, technical and tactical ability because we have shown in certain moments that we can play against these top teams."

The Brazil games proved yet another reality check for South Africa against non-African opposition, following a 5-1 defeat by the Netherlands in April.

However, the side did respond by claiming their maiden Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) title in Morocco in July.

Ellis insist the squad's attitude and mentality must improve ahead of the 32-team Women's World Cup tournament in Australia and New Zealand next year.

"When I spoke to the players, I spoke about Wafcon and said 'If you think that's the intensity you will be facing, then you are highly mistaken'," she added.

"Now a lot of players have had a taste of this and realise that fitness levels need to improve. Technically and tactically, we have got to improve.

"We've got to be concentrated for the full 90 minutes, which comes with playing more games like this. If we consistently play teams that will challenge us, that will force us to do certain things, make better decisions and we will also get better.

"But it's a whole package. It is a good lesson that there's a lot of work to be done. Come the World Cup, we will be way better because of games like this that help us grow and improve."

This article originally appeared on BBC Sport

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