African champions Banyana go down 3-0 to Brazil at Orlando Stadium

African champions Banyana Banyana began their preparations for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup with a 3-0 defeat to the strong South American reigning champs Brazil at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Friday night.  

Geyse, Adriana and Tamires Cássia Dias de Britto scored for the eight-time Copa América Femenina winners in the international friendly match against SA.

This was Banayana’s first game since they won the Women’s African Cup of Nations (Wafcon) title in Morocco in July.

Both sides are preparing for the world showpiece that will be staged in Australia and New Zealand from July next year.

The match showed that though Banyana have grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, there’s still a sizeable gap between the South Africans and the top women’s sides in the world.

Despite the loss, the Desiree Ellis-coached team gave a good performance against a side that boasted some of the top players in the world.

Banyana were under pressure for most of the opening half and handled it quite well until the 43rd minute.

The Brazilians were in control of the match and created numerous goalscoring opportunities for their attackers such as Barcelona star Geyse, Adriana and the US-based Debinha.

While some of the chances narrowly missed the target, the SA defence together with goalkeeper Andile Dlamini managed to deal with the dangerous attacks from the South Americans.

But lapse of concentration three minutes before halftime cost the South Africans dearly.

Brazil broke the deadlock through a well-taken goal by Geyse from the edge of the box.

While Banyana were still trying to regroup after Geyse’s goal, Adriana doubled the lead for the visitors two minutes later.

Banyana also had a couple of chances in the opening half, but the Brazilians managed to deal with any SA threat easily.

The introduction of Nomvula Kgoale for Kholosa Biyana looked to have brought some oomph for Banyana as for a moment they dominated the strong Brazil side and posed a serious threat in attack.

However, when Brazil got the chance to move up front Dias de Britto scored another good goal on 63 minutes and erased any slim hope of Banyana bouncing back in the clash.

The two sides will meet again in another friendly at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Monday evening (6pm).