Magaia hails ‘proud’ Banyana as SA’s heroes return home

Midfielder Hildah Magaia says Banyana Banyana should be proud of their sterling performance at the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

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Magaia, Noko Matlou and Thembi Kgatlana were the first members of the Banyana team to arrive back in the country, landing at the OR Tambo international airport on Tuesday, after they were knocked out of the tournament by the Netherlands on Sunday.

Banyana were beaten 2-0 by the Orange Lionesses in a closely contested game in Sydney.

“Each and every one of us is proud,” said Magaia, who is affectionately known as ‘the Breadwinner’.

“We went there with the mandate of qualifying for the Round of 16 and we did that. So it is a proud moment for all of us. We picked up injuries and it really killed our morale in the game. These things happen in football.”

Banyana lost key players Jermaine Seoposenwe and Bambanani Mbane to injury in the first half against the Dutch.

The Limpopo-born midfielder added that Banyana showed why they are the champions of Africa at the World Cup.

“It is not by mistake that we won Wafcon last year. We went to the World Cup and we wanted to give our best, and we did our best. We went to the knockout stages and were unlucky to lose to the Netherlands in the Round of 16.”

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The first time Banyana qualified for the global tournament was in 2019 back in France, where they lost all of their group stages games. In this edition of the tourney, the team lost one game, drew one and won one in a group which consisted of Sweden, Argentina and Italy