Paris Olympics: South Africa coach optimistic her girls will beat Falcons in Pretoria

South Africa coach, Desiree Ellis, has boldly declared that the race to qualify for the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in Paris, France is not over yet despite her side trailing Nigeria 1-0 in the first leg.

Captain Rasheedat Ajibade continued with her scoring form at the club level when she put the Falcons ahead in the 43rd minute from the penalty spot after Chinwendu Ihezuo was fouled inside the box on her way to the goal.

Speaking after the game, Ellis said, “Look, I said before the game, it was going to be a tight game. We said that the result over two legs will be what matters.

“We feel we’re still in the game, we created a couple of chances. A penalty decided the match but the tie was not over. I thought in the second half we raised our game a lot, and created a few chances.

“We could have equalised and maybe won a penalty at the end. But I’m proud of the team. And we’ll take it back to Pretoria.”

The reigning African champions managed the first leg encounter playing under difficult conditions and will now fancy their chances on the high altitude of Pretoria next Tuesday according to Ellis.

“Going to have a look at the footage and see where we can exploit the Falcons in the second leg. Because I thought defensively, we were sound. And up until that moment from the penalty, we created a couple of chances. We also had a lot of players coming back from injury.

“Not having played 90 minutes. And I thought we got a lot out of them. So they are better in their legs now and be better in the second leg. But as Tembi Kagtlana said, for us, it’s half-time. We still have another half to go,” Ellis said.