Banyana Banyana of South Africa assistant captain, Refiloe Jane is sad that she will miss Saturday’s Women Africa Cup of Nations clash with Nigeria on account of club duties in Australia, footballlive.ng reports.
Jane was in action against the Falcons in the opening match in Group B, which her side won 1-0, then found the net in their 7-1 rout of Equatorial Guinea, but she will miss the climax at Accra Sports Stadium, Accra.
This is sequel to a formal request by her Australian Women-League side, Canberra United that she should report back to base, in spite of having already helped Banyana Banyana qualify for the AWCON 2018 final.
Canberra stated that Jane’s international commitments saw her miss the last two fixtures, against Newcastle Jets and Adelaide United, which the lost, such that pressure had been mounted by their fans to call her back.
Jane admitted she was disappointed to miss the final, but retained deep confidence in Banyana’s ability to win in her absence, as she backed her teammates to get the job done on Saturday.
She boated: “We’ve got quality players in the team; we’ve got what it takes to lift the trophy whether I’m here or not.
“Also, I want to thank the technical team for allowing me to leave at this crucial point of the tournament.
”If it was any other coach I don’t think it would be easy for them to just say, ‘you can leave’ while we are going to play a crucial match, the final.
“I need to say thank you to the team and to everyone who gave me an opportunity to be here, and to Canberra for allowing me to come and compete in the AFCON tournament.”
