You may have missed this one yesterday, what with it being a pretty important day for the future of our country, but Banyana Banyana actually had the honour of taking part in the first event at the Rio Olympics.

The women’s football team faced off against Sweden and managed to put in a plucky performance despite the narrow loss. We didn’t offer much threat going forward, but it was a blunder by ‘keeper Roxanne Barker that cost us the match.

Other than the error, Barker put in a very solid performance, but it’s the mess below that people will remember:

This from EWN:

A 75th-minute strike from Nilla Fischer put Banyana Banyana’s hopes of causing an unlikely upset as they were beaten 1-0 in their Group E clash at the Olympic Stadium.

The Swedes dominated for most of the match and it was Roxy Barker in goal for South Africa who had an outstanding game.

Despite the loss coach Vera Pauw happy with the effort of her team and immediately shifted her focus to their second game against China on Saturday.

This evening sees our under-23 side kick off their tournament against Neymar’s Brazil, with the match starting at 9PM.

[source:ewn]