Ladies First: Friendly 2022 Holland South Africa

12 avril 2022

Cars Jeans Stadion Den Haag

NED

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Banyana Banyana produced a brave and gutsy effort against the Netherlands in a losing effort in Holland. Banyana lost the encounter 5-1, but the scoreline was not a true testament to the display the South African Women produced. The Netherlands started the game off on the front foot, spending the first five minutes camped in Banyana’s half of the pitch. The Dutch outfit looked like they were going to run riot but failed to find the final touches to unlock the Banyana defence. 

South Africa were not without their attacking options though, as Thembi Kgatlana looked lively on the left-wing. The speedy forward, who plays for Atletico Madrid, troubled the Dutch defenders when South Africa did counter.  Netherlands took the lead in the 12th minute when Jackie Groenen unleashed a powerful effort from the edge of the box. Their lead lasted just 13 minutes as Kgatlana got herself onto the scoresheet, sprinting past the defenders and finding the bottom corner. Lineth Beerensteyn gave the Netherlands the lead again just five minutes later as he finished smartly with a volley. Vivianne Miedema added a third in the 39th minute, shooting across Andile Dlamini. The ball hit the inside of the post and shot across the goal face before the ball nestled into the back of the net. Banyana were given the perfect chance to fight back when they were awarded a penalty in the 51st minute.

Noko Matlou stepped up to the spot after Kgatlana was brought down in the box. Matlou though failed to get any power onto the ball and saw her effort easily saved by Sari van Veenendaal. Kgatlana proved to be a real handful for the defenders and evaded a few tackles to get a shot away on 59 minutes. Banyana continued to produce a much better display in the second half as they looked like a much more compact side. Sadly that was all undone when Damari Egurrola scored in the 76th minute to make it 4-1. The Netherlands side looked most likely to get the next goal of the game as they pressured the Banyana defence, hoping to get a fifth. Egurrola did eventually get the fifth in the 90th minute to give the Dutch side a 5-1 win. 

The memory of Bafana's embarrassing defeat against France is still in many South African football lovers' minds, but Banyana are hoping to make up for that, Sports Brief reported. The South African Women's team are currently in Holland, as they take on the current European champions, the Netherlands in an international friendly tonight. The two sides have only played each other seven times before, with the Dutch coming out victors on all occasions. In the last two encounters they beat Banyana 2-0 in 2016 and then 2-1 just three years later, SAFA confirmed. 

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis believes that her side’s haphazard defending let them down in their 5-1 hammering at the hands of Netherlands at the Cars Jeans Stadion in The Hague on Tuesday night. The one positive that Banyana can take from the game is that they were very competitive against the fifth ranked Dutch until the end of the first half, though they thereafter fell apart. I felt that our defending at times let us down. We also created chances. At crucial times when it looked like we would come back, we conceded. After half-time, we had an opportunity to change the score line and didn’t take chances like the penalty miss. At times I felt that we did not put the ball on the ground as well as we would have liked,” said Ellis.

Ellis did indicate that the game was more about learning for her side than the actual result. Many players appeared to be struggling for match fitness as there was evidently not much support for Thembi Kgatlana who posed serious problems to the Dutch defence in the first half, even notching an equalizer to make the score 1-1. We wanted to see how the team plays under pressure. A lot of players needed to be tested and we were duly tested. We are hoping that the league starts as soon as possible because we can then give players game time. We were playing against a team that had their best players on the park against us. We managed to contain them but in the end, tiredness got the better of us. We didn’t handle the set-pieces very well. The scoreline was not good but the performance showed us what we need to do,” said Ellis.

The main purpose of the game was to give Banyana much needed practice ahead of the Africa Women Cup of Nations that gets underway in July. After finishing as runners-up to Nigeria in 2018, Ellis’ charges will be aiming to go all the way in the tournament and win it this year. A top four finish at the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations will also earn the South Africans an opportunity to play in the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.