Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis has blamed her team’s 2-1 loss to Nigeria on the horrific injury suffered by Gabriela Salgado.
Salgado went down with a nasty injury after a collision with one of the Nigeria players as the Banyana Banyana were clearing the ball late in their 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against the Super Falcons on Tuesday.
The injury left both sets of players distraught while most of her team-mates were in tears before she was stretched off with a heavily strapped leg.
That happened in the 84th minute when both teams were level 1-1 and it had looked like 30 minutes of extra time were on the cards.
What cost Banyana against the Super Falcons?
However, after Salgado’s injury, Banyana Banyana looked to have lost their focus and conceded a surprise goal when Michelle Alozie floated in a speculative ball from deep but it evaded all and rolled into the net for 2-1 as Nigeria won it at the death.
“I think from the reactions of the players it definitely was bad, I haven’t seen the medical report yet,” Ellis said after the match.
“But from the player’s side, it definitely looked really, really bad because we had to calm them down, we had to make sure that they refocus, which was very difficult after that moment.
“What impacted us was the injury, as you could see how emotional the players were,” she added.
Tough luck for WAFCON debutant Gabriela Salgado
“I knew it was serious because I could see the players running away [after seeing it], I think that impacted them in the last minutes and I don’t think they recovered from that.
“Unfortunately, it’s part of the game and it’s so unlucky for Salgado because she missed the last WAFCON also through injury, which she had picked up just before WAFCON.
“It’s unlucky for her, I think it affected us. We matched them pound-for-pound, not that we played 120 minutes [in the previous match]. That impacted us when Gabriela got injured.”
It was an unfortunate end to the game, and potentially the tournament for Salgado, who was making her first WAFCON start.
Banyana Banyana will now have to contend with playing the third-place playoff against either Morocco or Ghana, who played the second semi-final.
