Banyana Banyana captain, Thembi Kgatlana, hopes the team will improve after their exit from the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
South Africa was placed in Group G at the FIFA Women’s World Cup where they were grouped with Sweden, Italy, and Argentina. Banyana Banyana managed to secure four points from three games in their group, which led to their qualification for the round of 16 in the tournament. They finished second after a 3-2 victory over Italy.
Coach Desiree Ellis’ side faced the ninth-ranked team in the FIFA rankings, the Netherlands in the knockout stages on Sunday. Unfortunately, they suffered a 2-0 defeat, resulting in their exit from the tournament.
This marked the best performance shown by Banyana in this year’s edition of the Women’s World Cup, compared to their performance in 2019 when they only scored one goal. South Africa managed to score six goals and conceded six in this tournament. Commenting about the team’s future, Kgatlana said she can’t wait to see what they will building as a team moving forward.
🗣️ "𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩"
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) August 6, 2023
Banyana Banyana forward & captain Thembi Kgatlana after their #FIFAWWC match against Netherlands.
#SABCSportFootball #Sisonke #GameChangeHer pic.twitter.com/8ttQrEYB1r
“I’m very excited, actually I can’t wait to see what we are going to be building from what we have achieved as a team. We come long way we still have a long way to go but I think what we have shown and displayed in this tournament.
“We were in a group of teams that are highly ranked than us but trust me they had to work hard, I think we enjoyed ourselves as a team compared to 2019 where we scored one goal now we had goals and assists. And everyone was showing up and celebrating, we had two woman of the matches that is incredible for this team.
“And I think I just have to applaud them in everything that they did, the sacrifices that they have given so that we can perform the way we did,” she concluded
