Banyana Banyana coach Vera Pauw had nowhere to hide after her team bombed out of the Olympic Games.
Pauw came up with all sorts of excuses to cover up her team’s disappointing display in Group E, but in truth Banyana were pathetic against China as they lost 2-0 at the Olympic Stadium last night.
It could have been worse had woman-of-the-match Roxanne Barker not produced a series of great saves.
Banyana are at the bottom of the group with no points. Host nation Brazil, who defeated Sweden 5-1 at the same venue, top the group with six points. Sweden and China are third and fourth respectively with one game to go. Banyana face Brazil in Manaus tomorrow at 9pm (2am SA time) in their final group game.
Pauw’s charges conceded two goals, the first on the stroke of half-time and the second with two minutes remaining. Despite seeing that her team needed the fire power upfront, Pauw waited until the last 10 minutes to make substitutions.
Pauw blamed the lack of a professional league in South Africa as her team’s biggest reason for failing to progress from this tough group.
Pauw said: “What was the game plan? We had a clear game plan and tried to win the game and I think that we did well. But our problem was that our striker couldn’t make the necessary runs. We needed guts to succeed; I’m still proud of this team. We were too eager to equalise in the second half.”
Where to from here?
“We are going to Manaus to play Brazil,” she said. “I believe that we have to improve in the two games, but not having a league in SA was our biggest letdown. The other countries have top class leagues but we don’t.”
When asked why she took so long to make a substitution, Pauw said: “We lacked the maturity in the game and forgot to do what we are good at. I didn’t change because we don’t have enough depth in the team.”
Brazil are a mean machine and Banyana will have it tough. Banyana had great preparation going to Rio, but flopped anyway.
“Let’s not get emotional; we are number 52 in the world, and don’t have a league,” Pauw said.
“People back home did not expect to see two defeats, but we had the right game plan in both matches. The Olympics is a platform to advertise the SA women, and not to win it.”