Banyana Banyana vice-captain Thembi Kgatlana believes their performance at the Women’s World Cup might be a game changer for women’s football in South Africa.
The 27-year-old striker expressed that their performance would go a long way in providing the necessary groundwork for South Africa’s bid to host the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
“It’s going to be great, especially because South Africa is bidding to host the 2027 World Cup, and our performance will work towards showing the continent and the rest of the world that we have made huge strides,” Kgatlana said yesterday.
Banyana suffered a heart-breaking 2-0 defeat at the hands of 2019 finalists the Netherlands at the Sydney Football Stadium yesterday in their first Round of 16 match at a World Cup.
The African champions made history by qualifying for the knockout stage for the time, but their fairytale run was ended by a resolute Oranje.
Kgatlana was one of the forwards who had their fair crack at goal, but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Coach Desiree Ellis’s team had 14 attempts on goal, seven of those on target with Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar in fine form.
Kgatlana rued those vital gamechanging moments and pointed to the importance of their opponents having an extra day of rest.
The Racing Louisville forward had been involved in all six goals Banyana scored at this year’s World Cup.
“It’s football, you know – you win some, you lose some, and equally so as much as we had our chances and they didn’t have as many chances as we did, but they had to work for their chances,” Kgatlana told CentreCircle.
“Truth be told, we had a quick turnover. We played on Wednesday and they played earlier, so they had more time to rest and that showed in the second half because the fatigue started creeping in.
“We made mistakes, but I’m proud of the girls for the effort.”
Ellis and her team had to make do without the services of Refiloe Jane, who picked up an injury in the group game against Argentina last week.
Yesterday, Banyana suffered further blows as striker Jermaine Seoposenwe and centre-back Bambanani Mbane had to be stretchered off in the first half.
Kgatlana lamented the double blow, but lauded Wendy Shongwe and Tiisetso Makhubela, who came on for the pair.
“Unfortunately, we lost them, but thank you to the girls that stepped in because we know how difficult it is to be told to come on unexpectedly.
“But because we’ve been preparing as a team, those girls came on and had good performances,” Kgatlana explained.
Experienced midfielder Nomvula Kgoale echoed the sentiments of her teammate as she drowned in sorrow and was almost in tears as she looked back at what could have been.
“I feel extremely sad and I’m almost gonna burst into tears. It’s so sad because you know how you are and had we just buried our chances, we could’ve been having a different conversation right now,” Kgoale said.
“If you watched the game then you know we missed ours and they buried a few of theirs, and that was the turnaround.”
@ScribeSmiso