"We feel like we have let people down - Banyana Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis after loss to Nigeria
South Africa Coach, Desiree Ellis has expressed deep hurt over her team's loss to Nigeria in the last round of the Olympic qualification on Tuesday, Nigeriasoccernet.com reports.
The Banyana Banyana played a goalless draw in Pretoria to loss the ticket to Paris 2024 to loss on aggregate after losing by a goal to nil in Abuja a week ago.
A visibly hurt Ellis disclosed that the disappointment of losing the match was unexplainable as much as they felt they had disappointed everybody.
"It's difficult to explain because the expectations not just we have on ourselves, but that rest of the country had on us, we felt we disappointed everybody, she said.
"We felt that today if we had scored one goal, we might have scored the second , we might have scored the third because we were the team in the ascendency and we knew we had everything to play that long ball because they did that effectively in the first game and I think we handled that very well.
We needed to put our foots down a lot more, but I don't think you can explain disappointment, it's very difficult to explain, but you hurt so badly inside that you almost do not know what to say."
Ellis disclosed that the reigning African champions started poorly and did not go forward as much as possible earlier in the game.
She also stated that they threw everything at the Nigerian women, but it was unfortunate they could not get the needed goal at the final third.
"We knew that coming into this game we needed to score, we knew that we needed to score as early as possible because the longer the game went on the more desperate we'll become, She said.
"We didn't start well, we changed the formation slightly because we needed to score and then went with three upfront. We didn't go as forward as much as we wanted to in the first half, made a couple of changes in the second half, threw the kitchen sink at them and that goal did not go in and for that we are very disappointed and we also know the fans are disappointed.
But I think we can be very proud of this team. I think we gave it our best shot, we threw the kitchen sink at them. They were very resolute in act and we couldn't get that one goal."
Banyana’s Olympic hopes have been dashed for the second time in a row, which could put the future of their long-serving coach, Desiree Ellis, in question.
Uche Dozie
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