South Africa bows out of FIFA Women’s World Cup

South Africa‘s national women’s team has bowed out of the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand following a 2 – 0 loss to the Netherlands on Sunday at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia.

It was a must win for both teams for them to qualify for the quarterfinal stages but unfortunately the Netherlands proved to be a much more formidable team from the onset.

Jill Roord’s 9^th minute and Lineth Beerensteyn’s 68^th goals were enough to guarantee the Netherlands a quarterfinal spot against Spain on Friday at the Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand.

However, despite the loss, South Africa’s head coach Desiree Ellis, said she was proud of the team for having put up a gallant fight.

“Yesterday we spoke about how to win the game we needed to score more goals. We had a lot of opportunities, especially in the first half to kill off the game because we knew the quality of the Netherlands. We also knew that even when we conceded with a set-piece, the chances we created should have put us out of sight, but, that happens.

(Nevertheless), I think the whole of South Africa should be proud of this team. I know they got up very early in the morning and everyone expected a victory, but we also played against a very good side, a side that was not expected to be on top of the group, but they ended on top. We wish them the best in the next round. We are just proud, but disappointed of course, but proud of the players,” said Ellis.

Sunday’s encounter was the first for any South African senior football team to ever play in the knockout stages of a football World Cup.