Banyana Banyana’s World Cup hopes of being in the 16 are hanging by a thread after letting a 2-0 lead slip up against Argentina in their second Group G game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup at Dunedin Stadium on Friday.
South Africa looked set to record their first ever win at the World Cup after goals by Linda Motlhalo and Thembi Kgatlana either side of half-time.
However, Argentina pulled one back courtesy of a stunning Sophia Braun strike in the 74th minute and then drew level five minutes later when Romania Nunez headed home. The 2-2 draw result means Desiree Ellis’ team are now under pressure and will have to win against 16th ranked Italy on Wednesday 2 August, to stand a chance of qualifying for the round of 16.
Granted the game didn’t end in a defeat, but they didn’t make things any better for themselves as they had the game for the taking only to be let down by their poor finishing and not converting the many chances they had.
Ellis was irate during the post-press conference.
“If you make better decisions, we talk differently once again. You cannot create all those chances, and they [Argentina] get those two chances at the back, and they score.
“It’s about taking our chances and making better decisions in the final third when we are running through. It doesn’t matter who scores. It’s about putting someone who’s in a better position and who has a better opportunity to score. That’s the problem, that we don’t take those chances. It comes back to haunt us every time,” added Ellis.
Both Banyana and Argentina are on one point each sitting in third and fourth places respectively in the group. The two sides will now need victories in the final group matches.
Meanwhile, the other two teams in Group G are Italy and Sweden, who are both on three points after beating Argentina and SA respectively in the openers, face off on Saturday at 9:30am.
In what will be a 24th meeting between the two sides, Sweden goes into the encounter as favourites as they won 15 matches versus the 3 wins of Italy.
Sweden, who are affectionately known as Blågult (The Blue and Yellow), kicked off their tournament on a winning note as they came from behind to defeat South Africa 2-1 in their opening game.
Italy (Le Azzurre) also left it late in their opener to score an 87th minute goal to claim maximum points against Argentina.
Looking at the log standings, Sweden leads the way at the summit, Italy occupy second spot, SA are in third spot, while Argentina languish at the bottom.
