Banyana suffer another heavy World Cup preparation defeat, this time to Australia

It was a comedy of errors in Banyana Banyana’s defence which saw them suffer a 4-1 defeat to Australia during their international friendly match played at the Kingsmeadow Stadium in London on Saturday.

A brace by Cortnee Vine and a goal apiece by Clare Polkinghorne and Cailtin Foord saw the Matildas make light work of Banyana who look inferior against quality opposition.

The consolation goal for the African champions was scored by striker Hilda Magaia in the closing stages of this match which was utterly dominated by the Australians.

Banyana went into this match on the back of a chastening 9-0 aggregate defeat to Brazil during their recent two-match friendly series as they continue to prepare for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Australia, who are the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup co-hosts with New Zealand, started the match with intent and forced to Banyana to commit mistakes in their own half.

In Australia’s first attack of the afternoon, an under pressure Tiisetso Makhubele cleared the ball on the goal line in the third minute which resulted in a corner kick

From the resultant corner kick, Australia took the lead after SA goalkeeper Regirl Ngobeni fumbled the ball on the path of an alert Vine in the box to open the floodgates.

Vine doubled the scoring in the 24th minute and Polkinghorne’s header in the 41st minute from yet another corner kick ensured that Australia went into the break with a comfortable lead.

Banyana struggled to keep the ball in the midfield, where the likes of Linda Motlhalo, Thalea Smidt and Linda Mathlalo mostly operated, and this affected their ability to attack the Australians.

Gabriela Salgado’s return to the team showed glimpses of confidence up front as she was pairing up with stand-in captain Jermaine Seoposenwe up front. Unfortunately, none of their attempts were enough to test the Australian keeper Teagan Micah.

The match went to the halftime break without a goal for Banyana.

Australia continued where they left off when the match resumed for the second half as they camped in the African champions' half and it came as no surprise when they increased their lead.

Foord scored the last goal for Australia in the 52nd minute after numerous attempts by the 12th ranked team as they took this match beyond the reach of Banyana.

Substitute Melinda Kgadiete made a bit of a difference upfront and one of those runs saw her find Magaia who looped the ball over Micah to score Banyana’s only goal in the 86th minute.

The win over SA was redemption for the Maltidas after losing two friendly matches against Olympic Games champions Canada in September.

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