Banyana’s World Cup preparations not going smoothly

Banyana Banyana’s preparations for the Fifa Women’s World Cup aren’t going as well as they would have liked after losing 4-1 to Australia at the Kingsmeadow Stadium in London on Saturday.

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This was the third consecutive loss for Banyana since they started preparing for the global tournament. It all began with the two friendly games against Brazil for the South Africans, with the team losing the first one 3-0, before going on to be hammered 6-0 by the Women’s Copa America champions.

In the clash against the Australians, Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis was hoping to see an improved performance from her team after the Brazil games. But, things weren’t jgoing well for the Caf Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions, as they started the game against the Matildas very poorly.

A mistake by goalkeeper Regirl Ngobeni as early as the 5th minute saw the Australians begin their onslaught, with striker Cortnee Vine benefitting from the error by Ngobeni to put her side in the lead.

Banyana seemed to getinto the game and managed to produce some nice touches, but they just couldn’t get into the final third.

While they thought they were managing their opponents, Vine registered her brace and second goal for Australia in the 23rdminute. With a few minutes to go to half time, Clare Polkinghorne made it 3-0 for the World Cup co-hosts, giving them a comfortable lead going into the break.

In the second-half, things didn’t change much for Banyana as they struggled to break down the solid defence of the Australians. Ellis made a couple of changes, bringing on the likes of Thato Letsoso and Thubelihle Shamase to try and change the team’s fortunes.

But, they still couldn’t do much, with the side struggling to even get a shot on target or make any promising threats at Australia’s goals.

Things went from bad to worse for Banyana as Australia registered their fourth goal of the match in the 53rd minute.

Ellis’ charges didn’t seem like they would make any come-back into the match, with the Matildas well in control. With four minutes left to the end of the game, Banyana finally got a breakthrough thanks to a well taken goal by Hilda Magaia to make it 4-1.

But, it was too late.