‘It’s Not Over’, South Africa Coach Cautions Super Falcons Following Loss in Abuja

• South Africa’s Banyana Banyana, led by coach Desiree Ellis, suffered a 1-0 defeat against Nigeria’s Super Falcons in the first leg of the 2024 Olympics qualifiers.
• Despite the loss, Ellis remains optimistic, emphasizing that the tie is far from decided and her team will bounce back in the return leg in Pretoria.
• With the second leg looming, Ellis plans to analyze footage to exploit weaknesses in the Falcons’ defense.

Eko Hot Blog reports that South Africa’s Banyana Banyana head coach, Desiree Ellis has cautioned Nigeria’s Super Falcons that the 2024 Summer Olympics qualification match is far from decided.

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On Friday, April 5, South Africa’s Banyana Banyana faced Nigeria’s Super Falcons at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja for the first leg of the third round of the 2024 Olympics qualifiers.

The Super Falcons secured a narrow 1-0 victory over the reigning African champions with Rasheedat Ajibade scoring the only goal of the of the match at first half from the penalty spot.

The final outcome of the tie will be decided in the second leg, scheduled for Tuesday, April 9th in Pretoria. The Super Falcons simply require either a draw or a win, whereas the South African team must secure a victory to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.

After the 1-0 defeat to the Super Falcons, Desiree Ellis who led Banyana Banyana to the 2022 African women’s championship victory stressed that her team will bounce back in the return leg.

“Look, I said before the game, it was going to be a tight game. We said that the result over two legs will be what matters”, Ellis told reporters in Abuja.

“We feel we’re still in the game, we created a couple of chances. A penalty decided the match but the tie is not over. I thought in the second half we raised our game a lot, and created a few chances.

 

“We could have equalized and maybe won a penalty at the end. But I’m proud of the team. And we’ll take it back. To Pretoria.”

She added, “Obviously, going to have a look at the footage and see where we can exploit the Falcons in the second leg. Because I thought defensively, we were really sound. And up until that moment from the penalty, we created a couple of chances. We also had a lot of players coming back from injury.

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“Not having played 90 minutes. And I thought we got a lot out of them. So they are better in their legs now and be better in the second leg. But as Tembi Kagtlana said, for us, it’s half-time. We still have another half to go.”

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