“I thought in that performance, even though it was a loss, we are very proud of the way we played.
“Maybe we didn’t get the preparation we wanted but the group of players showed resilience, they showed courage and bravery – and with that we could have gotten a better result.
“But other than that I’m very proud of the way we played. We had an illusion game plan [Sweden] They did exactly what we thought they would do.
“I thought sometimes if we had taken our chances, or if we had made better decisions where we might have been two against one and gone it alone, we could have had a different result, even with them scoring in the end.”
Considering how many corners Sweden had – 13 to a South African corner – and how dangerous they appeared there, Banjana ultimately handled well against those to concede just one goal.
The Europeans always looked like they could score from a corner kick – and especially Ilestedt’s, who came close on a number of occasions. So it was ultimately no surprise that Baniana’s death came from that oath and purpose.
They may be looking to strengthen the field, though, by examining and preparing for Argentina’s strengths and weaknesses, in the next three days of training.
TimesLIVE