Captain Refiloe Jane is convinced that Banyana Banyana can still reach the Women’s World Cup last 16 for the first time, despite losing their opening match.
The South Africans put up a gallant performance that proved to be fruitless in their World Cup opener in New Zealand as they lost 2-1 to Sweden in Wellington on Sunday.
While the result was disappointing, Banyana’s performance consoled the team and entertained the partisan crowd.
Nevertheless, Banyana steadfastly believe they can still reach the knockout stage.
To achieve that, they will have to finish in the top two in Group G by getting at least four points against Argentina and Italy, and bank on their opponents cancelling each other out.
They are currently third in their group, with Sweden and Italy, who beat Argentina 1-0 yesterday, first and second, respectively.
Banyana return to training tomorrow after taking a day off to rest and recoup, and they’ll start their preparations for the clash against Argentina, who they face in Dunedin on Friday.
Jane has no doubt that her teammates will leave no stone unturned heading into Friday’s game as they have to win it or run the risk of getting eliminated from the tournament at the group stage again.
“It’s going to be important to now reflect (on the game against Sweden), look at what we did right and did wrong, and then move on to the next game,” Jane said.
“We take it one game at a time. We prepared for Sweden and now we are preparing for Argentina and then we keep on going.
“It’s not over yet – there’s still two more games to go. All is not lost!”
Jane has ample reason to believe that all is not lost. Time and time again Banyana have proved that they can overcome any adversities presented to them and get the much needed result.
Sure, the result against Sweden was disappointing, but their performance proved their mental fortitude given their rocky send-off to the tournament.
“It’s a disappointing result – I won’t deny that. But there are still two more games to go, we can’t just throw in the towel,” the Banyana midfielder added.
“Other teams are still going to play each other as well, so we’ll just prepare, take it one game at a time, and see what happens at the end of the tournament.”
With the global showpiece the grandest football tournament, there’s no room for error, and having individual errors costing Banyana against Sweden, SA just have to soldier on.
“It was a difficult game like we anticipated – their tactics were the way we anticipated. I think we played a good match. They scored on our mistakes, but we hold our heads high,” Jane said after Sunday’s match.
The chilly weather in Wellington has been coupled with rain since the start of the tournament, making the pitch sticky in the process. Regardless of that, teams must go onto the battlefield and do their best.
And that’s why Jane has urged her troops to put their best foot forward and not focus on external, unavoidable conditions.
“The weather conditions were fair, it was raining for both teams. We knew that the ball and the grass would be slippery – we were aware of the weather conditions coming into the game,” she said.
“But I think we could have done better, especially with the chances that we got. We could have capitalised on them. But other than that, I think we played a good match.”
Mihlali Baleka is at the Fifa Women's World Cup 2023, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, in partnership with Sasol.