{"id":145908,"date":"2023-10-24T19:31:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T16:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/?p=145908"},"modified":"2023-10-24T19:31:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T16:31:27","slug":"banyana-banyana-kholosa-biyana-weather-claim-dr-congo-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/banyana-banyana-kholosa-biyana-weather-claim-dr-congo-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Banyana Banyana\u2019s Kholosa Biyana makes bold claim ahead of DR Congo clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Banyana Banyana midfielder Kholosa Biyana believes herself and her teammates will not have any problems adapting to the hot weather in Kinshasha as they prepare to face DR Congo.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145914\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145914\" style=\"width: 696px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-145914\" src=\"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-1024x790.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"696\" height=\"537\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-1024x790.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-300x231.jpg 300w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-768x593.jpg 768w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-20x15.jpg 20w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-80x62.jpg 80w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-415x320.jpg 415w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-60x46.jpg 60w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-150x116.jpg 150w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-696x537.jpg 696w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-1068x824.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-1920x1481.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-544x420.jpg 544w, https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ICONSPORT_73237572-1-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" title=\"\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Icon Sport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Banyana Banyana, as South Africa\u2019s senior women\u2019s soccer side is affectionately known, are preparing for their match against the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is one of the 2024 Olympic Games qualification matches for African sides.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">South Africa were one of seven nations who received a bye during the first round of qualification, owing to their fantastic performance at the 2022 Women\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/africa-cup-of-nations\/\">Africa Cup of Nations<\/a> &#8211; which they won for the first time in their history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They then went ahead to build on that performance at this year\u2019s Fifa Women\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/fifa-world-cup\/\"> World Cup<\/a>. During the New Zealand and Australia-hosted global showpiece, Banyana became the first South African senior soccer side, men or women, to reach the second round of the World Cup where they lost 2-0 to the Netherlands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Given the recent achievements, they are aiming to reach next year\u2019s Olympic Games in Paris by starting strongly in the qualifiers against DR Congo.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Landed!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SasolSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@SasolSA<\/a> sponsored <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Banyana_Banyana?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@Banyana_Banyana<\/a> arrived safely in the DR Congo ahead of their first leg Olympic Qualifier &#8211; great to see the smiles and positive mood in the camp as usual.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LiveTheImpossible?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#LiveTheImpossible<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/coyGauBYIY\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/coyGauBYIY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Official SasolLeague (@SasolLeague) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SasolLeague\/status\/1716396473896542605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 23, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>\u201cI think we have to be ready\u201d &#8211; Biyana says as Banyana Banyana take on DR Congo<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Biyana believes they cannot alter the weather conditions in Kinshsha, so they just have to be ready to play on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI think we have to be ready. It is what it is, there is nothing we can do about it. I think the most important thing for us is to try and get enough rest (today), do as much recovery as we can and be ready to go.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On her side playing on an artificial Turf, Biyana had this to say; &#8220;It might be an advantage given the fact that sometimes in South Africa in the league we don't have good playing fields, but playing on Turf might be good.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Except the fact that it might be hot and we have to adapt to the weather. Some of us train in the heat, so I think we will be fine&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The South Africans made their debut in 2012 at the multi-sports tournament. They qualified again in 2016 but missed out on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and are keen to reach next year\u2019s own in Paris.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe game on its own is a big motivation. Especially given the fact that we did not qualify for the last one. It was very sad for us. And most people that were there, are still here now,\u201d said Kholosa Biyana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s a box we need to tick. We have been to the Afcon. We have been to the World Cup. And we did so well. So, it\u2019s important to continue with that form,\u201d added Biyana.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Banyana Banyana's coach Desiree Ellis also spoke about the state of the pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe will have to attack very quickly. We have players who have been in this situation before,\u201d said Ellis on the conditions that await them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIn 2021, we played the Aisha Buhari Cup on [on artificial] turf. So, it will be a little bit of adjustment. But not too big. We\u2019ll have to adapt very quickly. The away leg is really important for us to get a positive result,\u201d added Banyana\u2019s 60-year-old coach.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Banyana Banyana midfielder Kholosa Biyana believes herself and her teammates will not have any problems adapting to the hot weather in Kinshasha as they prepare to face DR Congo. Banyana Banyana, as South Africa\u2019s senior women\u2019s soccer side is affectionately known, are preparing for their match against the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":977,"featured_media":145915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":""},"categories":[1,14238],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Daniel Kolade","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/977"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145908"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145918,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145908\/revisions\/145918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145908"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalballlive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=145908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}