BANYANA Banyana of South Africa head coach Desiree Ellis believes her side are still on course for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games even after they lost the first leg of their qualifying tie to the Super Falcons of Nigeria yesterday.
Rasheedat Ajibade converted a 43rd minute penalty to give the Super Falcons a 1-0 victory at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja yesterday, with the second leg billed for Tuesday in Pretoria.
The Super Falcons were dominant in the first half and their pressure finally paid off when Banyana Banyana defender Noko Matlou brought down Chinwendu Ihezuo inside the box.
Ajibade confidently scored the spot kick to give the Super Falcons their first victory over Banyana Banyana in three years.
Banyana Banyana made it more of a contest in the second half and Ellis is confident they can overturn the deficit in Pretoria and earn one of Africa’s two tickets to the women’s football event of the Paris 2024 Olympics later this year.
“Look, we said it was going to be a tight game but we are hopeful of overturning this result in the second leg,” Ellis said in her post-match interview.
“We are still in the game. We created a couple of chances, a penalty decided the match but the game is not over.
“I thought in the second half we raised our game a lot and created good chances and could have equalised.
“Maybe we could also have gotten a penalty at the end when Jermaine was fouled but I’m very proud of the team and we will take it back to Pretoria.”
Zambia and Morocco drew 1-1 in the other African final round qualifying tie first leg also yesterday.
