Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis reckons that South Africans should be proud of her team despite bombing out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the second round.
Banyana’s journey in the tournament came to an end after they fell 2-0 to Netherlands in a last-16 encounter in front of 40 233 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium in Australia on Sunday.
The Dutch, who are going to meet Spain in the quarter-finals on Friday, won Sunday’s match courtesy of goals from Jill Roordt and Lineth Beerensteyn in both halves.
“I think the whole of South Africa should be very proud of this team. I know they got up early in the morning. Everybody expected victory. We played against a very good side,” Ellis said.
The 60-year-old former Banyana captain strongly believes that they had a chance to win the game, but they failed to convert their chances.
“Look, we spoke about to win the game we needed to score more goals. We had a lot of opportunities, especially in the first half. We knew even though we conceded from a set-piece that the chances that we created should have put us out of sight,” she remarked.
