Ellis has left out three players from the squad which took on the Netherlands and Sweden in Cape Town last month. The players are goalkeeper Jessica Williams, midfielder Hildah Magaia and striker Kelso Peskin.
The Cyprus Cup will be played from February 26 to March 6. Banyana’s opening game in Group A will be against Finland on February 27. The other countries in Group A are Czech Republic and Korea DPR.
“The battle for places in the final squad for the World Cup is becoming tighter and tighter as we get closer to the tournament. And I have said before that starting with the Cyprus Cup, we will be travelling with only 23 players, which is the number that we will take to France as per regulations,” Ellis told the Safa website.
“But make no mistake, this is by no means the World Cup squad, even though it is very close to what we will select – the tournament kicks off in June and anything can happen. So this is a wake-up call to whoever is not in the squad because the door is never closed to anyone until the announcement of the final squad, but also bear in mind that you don’t want to make too many changes so close to the competition unless there is still some exceptional talent out there that we haven’t selected.”