Pretoria, South Africa – Head coach of Bayana Bayana of South Africa, Desiree Ellis, said her team lost to Nigeria’s Super Falcons in the race for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games because they failed to break down their opponent’s defence line.
The South African women’s national team drew scoreless with Nigeria in the second leg in Pretoria on Tuesday, April 9 after losing the first leg 1-0 in Abuja on Friday, April 5.
As reported by BSNSports, Ellis said Bayana Bayana knew they needed to score and score early because they would become more desperate the longer it took to score.
The disappointed coach stated this after the encounter in Pretoria, Soccernet reports.
Why South Africa lost to Nigeria’s Super Falcons
Ellis lamented that despite slightly changing their formation with three up front, her team couldn’t get a goal past goalkeeper, Chiamaka Nnadozie.
“We also knew that we needed to score as early as possible because the longer the game went on, the more desperate we would become.
“We didn’t start well. We changed the formation slightly because we needed to score, and we went with three up front. They got the chance early on, and that’s the only opportunity they got in the half.
“But we didn’t go forward as much as we wanted in the first half. We made a couple of changes in the second half and threw the kitchen sink at them. Unfortunately, that elusive goal didn’t go in.”
Super Falcons’ coach speaks on tactics against South Africa
Legit.ng earlier reported that the Super Falcons coach, Randy Waldrum said Nigeria will not defend the 1-0 advantage against South Africa at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria.
Waldrum said the Super Falcons will not defend but show their host that “we are the better team again”.
According to Waldrum, the Super Falcons were simply unlucky not to have beaten South Africa by a bigger score line at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja on Friday, April 5.
