Banyana Banyana were hammered 3-0 by the former Fifa World Cup champions USA in an international friendly on Thursday evening.
The goals were scored in a nine-minute first-half goal blitz, courtesy of a Lynn Williams brace and another by Trinity Rodman, whose 34th-minute effort was sandwiched in between the 32nd-minute and 41st-minute strikes.
That blitz effectively settled the match as a contest, but the 22 000-strong crowd continued to cheer their players on, especially Julie Ertz, who was playing the final game of her career.
She wore the captain’s armband for her 123rd appearance on the national team.
The 3-0 pasting will help South Africa realise that they need to raise their game ahead of the Olympic qualifiers and the 2027 World Cup qualifiers.
The Yanks dominated with a 67% possession advantage and enjoyed 17 shots at goal. The South Africans had five shots at goal, and only one was on target.
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Banyana coach Desiree Ellis said her team paid dearly for poor defending at set pieces and lapses of concentration against the World No 3-ranked Americans.
“We always speak about picking up, and if you look at the first goal, we did not pick up,” Ellis told the Safa media department.
“You look at the second goal, marking on the wrong side, and it came quickly after the first goal. Even the third goal, we didn’t pick up, and those are moments of lapses of concentration.
“But I thought we ended the game well, and there were certain things that we were looking at, like how we transitioned to attack, which I think we did well.
“It was the first time that Bongeka (Gamede) and Tiisetso (Makhubela) played together as a pairing. They have played together for some minutes, and it takes a while to gel.”
Banyana will play the US again tomorrow in Chicago, in a farewell match for US legend Megan Rapinoe.
Ellis will be hoping her team will show improvement in that game.
“We did say we must be organised better defensively, and the first 20 minutes is key,” said Ellis.
“We were excellent, but we have to push and stay compact and concentrated in defence a bit longer, and make sure when we get the chances, we are clinical in front of goals.
“We need to protect the ball better, rotate the ball a bit quicker.”
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