Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has raised concerns about the sweltering conditions in Morocco, where they got the defence of their Women's Africa Cup of Nations Wafcon campaign off to a winning start on Monday.
South Africa beat Ghana 2-0 in their Group C opener at Stade d'Honneur in Oujda on Monday in a match played at 5pm local time, with temperatures around 34C.
In their next two group matches against Tanzania on Friday and Mali on Monday, Banyana play at 8pm Moroccan time 9pm in SA and conditions may be cooler for the players.
I felt sorry for teams that played at 3pm yesterday on Monday. If the weather was like this at 5pm, you can imagine at 3pm, Ellis said, warning the tournament cannot afford health issues for players or anyone else due to the mid-summer conditions.
The cooling breaks help a bit because you get the moment to get energy, water, get conversations going and take their minds off the tiredness and get the players going again. But It was hot out there.