6 June 2026 – Sasol Banyana Banyana Head Coach Dr Desiree Ellis says they will take some lessons following their 5-0 defeat to Japan in the first of two international friendly matches played at the Yanmar Hanasaka Stadium on Saturday in front a decent crowd that included several South Africans in the stands.
Also in attendance in Osaka was the Deputy Minister of Recreation, Sports, Arts and Culture, Peace Mabe. This was the second meeting between the two nations since 2019, with the Asians winning 2-0 seven years ago. The visitors came into this encounter on the back of two wins against Algeria in April, but found the going tough against the reigning Asian champions. South Africa conceded as early as the first minute through Kiko Seike (1’) who doubled the lead 18 minutes later. By half time it was 3-0 after Momoko Tanikawa had scored the third.
Dr Ellis made several changes in the second half when she introduced Thembi Kgatlana, Bongeka Gamede, Wendy Shongwe and Isabella Ludwig for Nonhlanhla Mthandi, Linda Motlhalo, Gabriela Moodaly-Salgado and Noxolo Cesane respectively. Nadeshiko Japan increased their lead as Aoba Fujino (49’, 60’) grabbed a brace to run away 5-0 winners.
“You learn a lot more from defeats than what you learn from wins, this is part of our preparation. Japan was excellent today, pounced on every mistake and scored from every mistake and that is what top sides do. I think there’s a lot of lessons to be learned as preparation for WAFCON, we created a few half chances and maybe better decisions in the final third could have gotten us in behind goal, but today we played against a top side,” said Dr Ellis.
“We wanted to be really compact in the first 20 minutes and made sure that we closed all the spaces, but unfortunately we conceded early before we could settle down and then we couldn’t recover in time. We had analyzed and we knew what was going to happen, but we put ourselves under pressure when we tried to hold on to the ball. There were moments when we got out and played, but it was not often enough because of the pressure that the Japanese players put on our players and at times, they were clinical on the mistakes they pounced on.”
Banyana Banyana and Japan meet again on Tuesday in the second and final friendly at the same venue. Kickoff is at 08h30 South African time.
The 2022 African Champions are using the two matches as part of the preparations for next month’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON 2026) which will be held in Morocco from 25 July to 17 August.
South African Football: South Africa was banned from international football from 1961 to 1992 due to apartheid.