South Africa’s national women’s football team Banyana Banyana lost 1-0 to Sweden in their opening game of the 2016 Rio Olympics on Wednesday evening.
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The first event of the games took place in the mostly empty 47,000-seat Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil, who lost at the quarter-final stage of the London 2012 Games, were comfortable winners with goals from Monica, Andressa Alves and Cristiane.
Although the opening ceremony takes place on Friday, the football competitions begin ahead of time with six women’s matches on Wednesday and another eight men’s games on Thursday. They current occupy last spot in the group, having lost by a bigger margin than South Africa, who are third on the table. Kudakwashe Basopo got a consolation goal for Zimbabwe in the 50th minute. Seoposenwe tallied South Africa’s decisive goal in the 54th minute to silence the home crowd and lift Banyana Banyana to its 1-0 lead.
Fitness and midfield control saw virtually equal possession throughout the first half, although Sweden made better territorial use of their share with a two good attempts that were confidently handled by keeper Roxy Barker in the tenth minute. We have been meeting these girls (Sweden team) up and down the elevator, and thinking that those are the opponents we will be facing.
Rio 2016 Olympic Games sporting action kicked off on August 3 with the women’s football tournament.
It’s an early sporting high for Brazil, where reservations about the cost of bringing the Olympics to South America for the first time have produced violent reactions.
There are 16 teams in the men’s tournament divided into four groups.
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In the other two games played, Canada beat Australia 2-0, and France smashed Colombia 4-0.
