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BY Obakeng Maje

The South African Senior Women’s National Team (Banyana Banyana) will be looking to leave the Olympic Games on a high note, when they take the challenge to World Cup champions Japan in their final Group F fixture. The match will be played on Tuesday, 31 July 2012 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

Kickoff is at 14h30 (15h30 SA time).

Despite defeats to Sweden and Canada, captain Amanda Dlamini’s team will leave the world’s greatest sports showpiece richer in football experience. This could prove to be of major value as they prepare to put in a bid to lift the CAF African Women Championship 2012 title in Equatorial Guinea in October this year.

The results in the first two matches mean Banyana Banyana will not progress to the next round.

But the sports world will remember the team for the superb strike from 45 metres out by forward Portia Modise which resulted in South Africa’s historic first goal in Olympic Games women’s football history. This was in Banyana Banyana’s 4-1 loss to Sweden on Wednesday, 25 July 2012.

Japan, ranked No 3 in the world, go into the match against South Africa at the back of Group F outings which saw them record a 2-1 win over Canada and a goalless draw against Sweden.

“We are looking forward to the match against Japan, as our styles are similar in that they like to keep and play the ball on the ground and so do we. We had hoped to do well in our opening two matches to stand any chance of proceeding to the next round, but it was not to be and I would like to applaud the whole team for giving their all. We have one match remaining in the competition and we are confident we can come with a positive result even though we know it won’t be easy,” said Dlamini.

“On behalf of Banyana Banyana, I would like to thank SASCOC, SAFA and our loyal sponsor Sasol, for all the support that they have given to our team and it was a privilege to be a part of Team SA at the London Olympics. We have learnt so much from these two games and we hope they will put us in good stead when we challenge for the AWC title later this year.”

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The SA Sports Confederation an Olympic Committee has announced the Banyana Banyana squad for the 2012 London Olympic Games. 

Sascoc has revealed the 112-member initial team for the tournament today; the final team will be announced on July 4.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of four years of extremely hard work for everyone, both at Sascoc and in the broader South African sports fraternity,” Sascoc President Gideon Sam says.

“I’ve always said that the building of a team is like doing a jigsaw puzzle. So today we are putting just about the final pieces of that puzzle into place with only a few more additions likely after the final qualification cut-off.

“Make no bones about it, we could have done better if we had more funding but that’s always the case. The time for excuses is over and I believe that we have done the very best that we could have done under the circumstances. 

“There was the criticism over the clothing sponsor but we believe we’ve done our absolute best and when you see our stars turn out at the Olympics and Paralympics I think you’ll agree.”

A total of 16 sporting codes will be represented, ranging from archery to weightlifting, and it will be the first time that Banyana Banyana will be competing.

Banyana squad
Roxanne Barker, Zamandosi Cele, Amanda Dlamini, Judith Hlumbane, Refiloe Jane, Kylie-Ann Louw, Noko Matlou, Andisiwe Mgcoyi, Philadelphia Mndaweni, Portia Modise, Sanah Mollo, Robyn Moodaly, Marry Ntsweng, Nompumelelo Nyandeni, Amanda Sister, Leandra Smeda, Janine van Wyk, Nothando Vilakazi

Manager: Lydia Monyepao
Coach: Joseph Mkhonza, Matsobane Laka
Technical adviser: Ephraim Mashaba.