Nigeria and South Africa learn lessons from back-to-back friendly defeats
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Linda Motlhalo (right) scored twice at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, but she and her South African team-mates could not find the net in two games against Brazil
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."
Nigeria manager remains under pressure
Nigeria have not won any of their past four games
Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum, meanwhile, has come under increasing criticism from the local media after the Super Falcons' 2-1 defeat by the United States in Washington on Tuesday.
The sides first met on Saturday in Kansas City, where the world champions came away with a 4-0 victory.
After a disappointing Wafcon semi-final exit on penalties, it is three straight defeats for the nine-time African champions - who were without six starters because of injuries and visa issues.
"Any time you play against the best in the world, you are going to have challenges," Waldrum reasoned.
"But everything we do to move forward is in preparation for the World Cup, so we look less on the results and more on performances.
"We will study the video from the first match and try to clean up some things defensively, because the hard part is playing against not just the best team in the world but a team that is really in top form presently.
"We will continue to grow as a team and do better at the World Cup than we did in Morocco."
The Super Falcons highlighted Uchenna Kanu's goal in the 2-1 defeat as the first time the West Africans had scored against the USA in two decades.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced last month that it is reviewing the team's Wafcon performance, saying a "thorough evaluation of the capability of the coaching crew to lead the team to a creditable performance at the World Cup" is ongoing.
Elsewhere, Zambia - another of Africa's four representatives at next year's global tournament - have cruised into the semi-finals of the regional Cosafa tournament in South Africa.
The Copper Queens beat Eswatini 2-0 in their final Group G game on Tuesday, following previous 2-0 and 7-0 wins over Namibia and Lesotho respectively.
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