Brave Banyana downed by Dutch as World Cup fairytale ends

Banyana Banyana lost their round of 16 World Cup tie 2-0 to the Netherlands at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday, but they did so with a high sense of pride and combativeness.

They conceded goals through Jill Roord in the sixth minute and Lineth Beerensteyn in the 68th minute, but they fought hard and did so right until the end.

It was their first-ever round-of-16 World Cup game and Banyana didn't look out of place, but two errors made by Lebogang Ramalepe and Kaylin Swart were punished by the Dutch, who were reliant on a collective effort and a superb goalkeeping performance by Daphne van Domselaar.

The Dutch will face Spain on Friday in Wellington in the quarter-finals while Banyana will go home.

Banyana were certainly not fazed by the occasion.

They were badly affected by two injuries sustained by Jermaine Seoponsenwe and Bambanani Mbane, with the key forward and centre back coming off in the 30th and 42nd minutes, respectively.

Seoposenwe had collided with Mbane and Lineth Beerensteyn in the 19th minute and while she soldiered on for another 11 minutes, it was clear she was struggling.

Mbane had shored up Banyana's defence superbly with well-timed tackles and excellent game reading, but she came off second best in a midfield battle and had to be replaced be replaced by Tiisetso Makhubela.

Seoponsenwe was replaced by Wendy Shongwe and the substitutes certainly didn’t look lost in the cut-throat nature of the game.

With Refiloe Jane not making the fitness grade after her injury against Argentina last week, the feeling was SA had lost their spine, but this wasn't reflected in how combative they were, before and after the changes.

In fact, they were the first to ask questions in the sixth minute when Thembi Kgatlana's shot