Although South Africa lost their match against Sweden 2-1 due to a late winner from Amanda Ilestedt, their manager Desiree Ellis was incredibly proud of her side.
“We are very proud with the way we played. We might not have had the preparation we had wanted but the players have shown resilience and bravery.”
South Africa went 1-0 up and had number three ranked Sweden on the ropes, but they couldn’t hold on.
“To concede right at the end I think was a bit cruel but that is football,” Ellis said.
Fans in their native country woke up early to watch their team and even though they lost, Ellis believed fans will be excited.
“I think the people back home that got up at seven in the morning will be rejoicing in the street because of the performance,” Ellis said.
The result was a hard pill to swallow for a lot of the players, however Ellis still saw it as a positive result.
“Knowing that we went toe-to-toe with the number three country in the world and it took a superhuman from them to get the result is positive.”
“People will see what South Africa is all about this time around. They would have definitely seen a big difference since 2019,” Ellis said.
This World Cup is only the second for South Africa. In 2019, they didn’t get a point losing all three group matches.
Ellis credited the team’s better performance to more experience at the big stage.
“When we came to our first World Cup last time all of us were newbies, now we have a little bit of experience,” Ellis said.
Her side were hard done by to not at least get a point from the match, but they will take this experience into their next match.
South Africa head south to Dunedin, where they will play Argentina on Friday.
If they play as well as they did last night, a historic win could be on the cards and there will be more people rejoicing in the street.
Feature Image Credit: Wellington Phoenix
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