Banyana Banyana huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow China down as they were left to rue a string of missed chances to be all but knocked out of the Rio Olympics following a 2-0 loss on Sunday morning.
The South Africans’ best goal-scoring opportunity arguably came after just 51 seconds through Jermaine Seoposenwe, but the young striker was unable to divert the ball past Chinese goalkeeper Zhao Lina when she would’ve scored if it was on either side of the shot-stopper.
And just on the stroke of halftime, China produced the decisive moment when an innocuous-looking through-ball by playmaker Wang Shuang slid past a back-tracking SA captain Janine van Wyk, and striker Gu Yasha didn’t need a second invitation as her left-footed shot took a slight deflection off Banyana goalkeeper Roxanne Barker into the net.
After staying in the fight during the second half, Banyana’s hopes were extinguished when Tan Ruyin spotted Barker off her line and launched an incredible shot from close to the centre circle to beat the back-pedalling SA goalkeeper to seal the fate of coach Vera Pauw’s team.
It was rough justice for Banyana after an enterprising opening 45 minutes in which Seoposenwe had numerous chances to score, while skipper Van Wyk also struck the crossbar with a venomous shot from a layoff of an indirect free kick, with Lina getting a crucial touch to it in the 44th minute.
Seoposenwe’s opening-minute miss came after strike partner Linda Motlhalo put her clear on the right, with Seoposenwe cutting inside a defender. But with just the goalkeeper to beat, she fired her attempt straight at Lina, who kept it out.
Seoposenwe troubled the Chinese with her electric pace and skill, but when Nothando Vilakazi found her with a wonderful cross from the left in the 12 th minute, South Africa were denied again by Lina, who came out and smothered shots from Seoposenwe and Motlhalo.
That was the theme for Banyana for the entire first half, with the impressive new face in the team Thembi Kgatlana also going close.
Van Wyk kept the Chinese at bay with Barker as she made a number of timely interventions, none more so than in the 36th minute when the skipper tackled Zhang Rui inside the box to concede a corner. Barker then saved Yang Li’s effort from the resultant delivery, with the Chinese forward missing another chance six minutes later.
But the South African wall eventually caved in when Gu Yasha finished expertly to put the Asian team 1-0 up at halftime.
Kgatlana was even more influential in the second half as her pace and power down the right caused the Chinese defence nightmares, but there was no joy for the South Africans as Lina stood strong in goal.
With Banyana pushing forward for the equaliser, gaps opened up at the opposite end, with Barker producing a number of heroics between the sticks to prevent Wang Shanshan from scoring.
Those saves kept the belief going in the South African team, but their resistance ended with Tan Ruyin’s wonder shot from close to the halfway line three minutes before the end.
Banyana has an extremely slim chance of still reaching the next round, but would need a remarkable run of results in the remaining Group E games to go their way. They round off their Olympic campaign against Brazil on Monday night (3am Tuesday morning SA time).
@ashfakmohamed