- Banyana lost 2-1 to Sweden on Sunday
- They had taken the lead but surrendered their advantage
- Coach Ellis reacts to their defeat
WHAT HAPPENED? South Africa went down 2-1 after initially enjoying a 1-0 advantage before allowing the Swedes to overturn the result in their 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup Group G opener.
It was a disappointing result for Ellis and her girls after coming up against an unimpressive Blue and Yellow who had to grind a result.
But the Banyana coach remains “very proud” and sees “a big plus” in the way they executed themselves.
WHAT ELLIS SAID: “They came off a bit disappointed because of the loss because we thought we could have got a better result,” Ellis said as per Washington Post.
“But the way we played, we are very proud of that. We stuck to the game plan. We knew we’d get goals on transition. We knew we’d get chances.
“We scored and that is one of our strengths. We have the speed up front, we have the skill upfront, we have this skill within the midfield and defensively we were really, really good and that is a big plus for us.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: It was a lost opportunity for Banyana to record their first-ever World Cup victory as they failed to take advantage of drab Sweden. They kept on conceding corner kicks despite the Blue and Yellow posing serious danger from the set-pieces.
After South Africa survived numerous attacks from the corners, Sweden finally got it right on the 11th kick. Banyana also failed to capitalise more on their strengths of counter-attacks from where they posed the greatest threat.
Despite just finding Sweden off form, if Ellis' girls build up on Sunday's performance, they could upset their other Group G opponents.
WHAT NEXT FOR BANYANA? Banyana return to action on Friday when they take on Argentina at Dunedin Stadium.