The national women's football team Banyana Banyana will return to South Africa with a sense of mission accomplished after beating Senegal 2-0 on Tuesday night in Thies.

The African champions claimed a win in the second of two international friendlies against the Senegalese in their own backyard.

Amogelang Motau opened the scoring for Banyana in the 13th minute with a stunning goal from a free-kick to hand them the lead.

On the stroke of half time, Noxolo Cesane doubled the lead for South African when she found the back of the net.

This put pressure on the Senegalese in the second half and they reverted to their tactic of physical football and this came at a price for them as well as for South African.

Sylla Coumba was shown a straight red card in the 67th after her challenge injured the South African goalkeeper, Kaylin Swart. Swart was substituted minutes later after she could not continue the game.

Following the match the Banayana coach Desiree Ellis said they played to their strengths and this led to them dominating the game.

“We played to our strengths today after looking at our errors in the first match, and that is how we managed to dominate the entire match,” said Ellis.

“We are happy with the performance we saw today and will continue to build on it.”

Banyana are still waiting for the confirmation that the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations will be played in Morocco this year. At this stage they don’t have any further games lined up yet, but they will continue to prepare for their WAFCON title defence.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport