Banyana coach points out positives despite defeat to Sweden 

Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis has pinpointed the positives from their 2-1 defeat to Sweden in their FIFA Women’s World Cup opener at Wellington Regional Stadium on Sunday. 

The prestigious tournament is currently underway in Australia and New Zealand. 

South Africa took the lead in the 48th minute of the showpiece through Hildah Magaia. But Sweden came back from a goal down to beat Ellis’ charges following Lebohang Ramalepe’s own goal in the 68th minute.

Ilestedt scored the winning goal in the last minutes [89th] of the game, breaking the hearts of SA fans.

DESIREE ELLIS PINPOINTS THE POSITIVES 

In a post-match interview, Ellis pointed out the positives despite their defeat to the European nation. 

“A lot of positives to take away from this game. I thought we were really good on the ball,” said Ellis. 

“We worked a lot on defence and also worked a lot of setpieces. And I thought we handled those two areas really well. 

“We worked a lot on our transitions as well and protecting the ball. I think maybe we should have protected the little more on occasions or even spread it more when we had the opportunity.”

ELLIS REFLECTS ON THE GAME OVERALL 

The three-time CAF Women’s Coach of the Year further reflected on the overall performance of Banyana on the day. 

“I thought that everything they threw at us, we handled it very well. I think our transactions were really good, but decision-making in the final third could have been better on occasions, and we could have been in,” she added. 

“When we scored, we still had control of the game. I think the own goal came at an unfortunate time, and that put us back a bit.

“We always knew that physically they were always going to challenge us, especially aerially. But I thought we handled that extremely well throughout the game.

Ellis went on to state that she is “proud” of her troops as they played according to their game plan regardless of the outcome of the match. 

“I’m really proud of the players. We had a game plan, and we played according to the game plan. But we didn’t take our chances,” explained Ellis. 

“And being the side that Sweden is, they had players with resilience, and they kept coming at us. However, I felt like our defence and everyone else played well but just couldn’t hold on till the end.” 

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