The head coach of the South Africa women’s team, Desiree Ellis, has insisted that South Africans should be proud that her team got to the round of 16 at the 2023 Women’s World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
South Africa were one of the eight debutants at the 2023 Women’s World Cup and the only debutant that made it to the round of 16.
However, they started very roughly in the group stage as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sweden in their opening group stage game.
During that period, it was expected that they would find it almost impossible to escape from Group G since they still had Argentina to play. But interestingly, the Bayana Bayana led Argentina with two goals until in the 74th minute before the South American team came from two goals down to equalize and ended the game with a 2-2 draw.
That performance gave Bayana Bayana hope of making it out of the group but the only way out was to defeat another European giants Italy in their last group stage game.
Against all the odds, South Africa pulled one of the biggest stunners at the tournament as they beat Italy 3-2 to qualify from the group ahead of the European giants.
Unfortunately for the Bayana Bayana team, they had to face another European giant, the Netherlands in the round of 16. This time around, the reigning African women’s champions, couldn’t cope with the Netherlands as they suffered a 2-0 defeat that ended their journey in the tournament.
While reacting to the performance of her team, coach Desiree Ellis said, “As a group, we need to hold our heads up high.
“When we reached the last 16 the whole country went crazy and I’m expecting them to go crazy when we get back as well.
“The whole of South Africa should be very proud of this team.”
She added, “To the sponsors: I don’t know how you can ignore something special like this. What this team has achieved, the corporate world needs to stand up and really take notice and be counted.”
