Banyana Banyana's hopes of a medal at the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo were ended yesterday when they missed out on the semifinals of the competition after losing by the drawing of lots.
Instead, it is Ghana who advance to the semifinals where they will meet Ivory Coast, while Nigeria take on Cameroon in the other fixture.
South Africa and Ghana finished with identical records in a pool that had been reduced to three teams after the late withdrawal of Egypt from the competition.
Banyana played to a 0-0 draw with Ghana in their group game and after both teams held Cameroon to a 1-1 draw, there was no way for them to be separated.
Cameroon finished top of the pool by virtue of having scored two goals to the one of Ghana and South Africa.
The drawing of lots took place in Brazzaville, and it was Ghana who had the luck on the day.
Aside from the disappointment of missing out on a medal, it means that coach Vera Pauw has lost two more opportunities to fine-tune her side ahead of the final round of 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers next month, when they face off against Equatorial Guinea.
Pauw said while she was disappointed by the drawing of lots she had accepted their fate as this was part of the rules.
" I am very disappointed at the way we were knocked out but then again rules are rules. I still think things went wrong for us when we had a penalty awarded against us late in the first match. We then had to play Ghana, who hadn't played a match and were still fresh," she said.
"I guess we were just unlucky because the toss could have gone either way."
Banyana lose out on semis spot
Banyana Banyana's hopes of a medal at the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo were ended yesterday when they missed out on the semifinals of the competition after losing by the drawing of lots.
Instead, it is Ghana who advance to the semifinals where they will meet Ivory Coast, while Nigeria take on Cameroon in the other fixture.
South Africa and Ghana finished with identical records in a pool that had been reduced to three teams after the late withdrawal of Egypt from the competition.
Banyana played to a 0-0 draw with Ghana in their group game and after both teams held Cameroon to a 1-1 draw, there was no way for them to be separated.
Cameroon finished top of the pool by virtue of having scored two goals to the one of Ghana and South Africa.
The drawing of lots took place in Brazzaville, and it was Ghana who had the luck on the day.
Aside from the disappointment of missing out on a medal, it means that coach Vera Pauw has lost two more opportunities to fine-tune her side ahead of the final round of 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers next month, when they face off against Equatorial Guinea.
Pauw said while she was disappointed by the drawing of lots she had accepted their fate as this was part of the rules.
" I am very disappointed at the way we were knocked out but then again rules are rules. I still think things went wrong for us when we had a penalty awarded against us late in the first match. We then had to play Ghana, who hadn't played a match and were still fresh," she said.
"I guess we were just unlucky because the toss could have gone either way."
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