Banyana Banyana captain Refiloe Jane has made an honest admission about their Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) after they failed to defend their title.
Banyana finished fourth after losing to Ghana in the third-place playoff match on Friday on penalties. SA went to the tournament as defending champions, but failed to defend their title and finished in a disappointing fourth place.
Given the situation within camp, given the players that we had and a lot of transition that was taking place in the team, we are hoping that a lot of positives can be taken from this tournament and build on that
— Refiloe Jane, Banyana Banyana captain
Jane admitted that they let the nation down. "We are disappointed to be going home empty-handed. Throughout the tournament, it wasn't an easy one for the players and there were a lot of challenges on and off the pitch," Jane told Safa media.
"But we tried to put in a great performance, we tried to do our level best and we tried to retain the trophy as the main objective. But going home now, there's a lot of work still to be done and we are hoping that in the next Wafcon, we can do well, starting with the qualifiers."
Jane feels the team is in transition and that they took a lot of positives going forward as they start to prepare for next year's edition of Wafcon, also in Morocco, where they will be hoping to do better.
"Given the situation within camp, given the players that we had and a lot of transition that was taking place in the team, we are hoping that a lot of positives can be taken from this tournament and build on that," she said.
"It's disappointing to sum up the tournament going home without a medal."
Meanwhile, midfielder Amogelang Motau has called for patience and echoed Jane's sentiments that they are in a transition period. "I will go back to the fact that it's a transition, so you need time for different combinations, so we can establish the chemistry of the players that were able to qualify for the World Cup.
"These are the players that have been playing together for more than six years ... and we are talking about the likes of Fifi [Jane] and Linda [Motlhalo]," Motau said.
"When I came into the midfield, I almost felt like I was so lost because the two of them had so much chemistry, but with time, I'm also getting there.
"I think with the group of players that are here, we have shown that they have potential and they are willing to get there. So, for me it's just about playing more games together and attending more camps together, and I think things will fall into place. We just need to be patient."
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