Head coach Desiree Ellis is remaining positive as her brave Banyana Banyana side suffered a dramatic 2-1 defeat to third-ranked Sweden in their Group G FIFA Women's World Cup opener at the Wellington Regional Stadium in New Zealand on Sunday.
Despite taking a surprise lead early in the second half Banyana narrowly missed out on securing their first-ever points at a World Cup as Sweden scored a 90th minute winner to subject Ellis' side to a heartbreaking defeat.
READ | Banyana denied first World Cup point by Sweden
The current Africa Cup of Nations champions face an uphill battle to qualify for the knockout stages from a tough Group G alongside Argentina and Italy.
"I thought everything they threw at us we handled really well, and our transitions were really good, but our decisions in the final third could have been better on occasions," Ellis said post-match.
"When we scored, we still had control of the game. I think the own goal came at an unfortunate time and that put us back a bit.
"We always knew, physically, they were going to challenge us aerially, but throughout the game we handled that extremely well. I am really proud of the players.
"We had a game plan and we played accordingly to the game plan.
"But we didn't take our chances really and, being the side that Sweden is with the players that they have and the resilience that they have, they kept coming but I felt our defence played really well, but we just couldn't hold on in the end.
"I can take a lot of positives from this game, we were good on the ball and really good defensively."
Banyana next face Argentina on Friday (02:00 SA time) before taking on Italy in their final Group G clash on Tuesday, 2 August (09:00).
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