South Africa's Banyana Banyana will seek to prove they learned lessons in Saturday's 5-0 thrashing when they face Japan in the second of two back-to-back friendlies in Osaka on Tuesday.
Desiree Ellis was left with plenty to ponder as the delays to the HollywoodBets Super League season amid restructuring and lack of overseas-based talent to counteract the impact of local problems likely played a role in South Africa being played off the park.
Kiko Seike scored the first two goals within 19 minutes before Momoko Tanikawa made it 3-0 before the half-hour mark. After half-time, Aoba Fujino added two further goals in a scoreline which arguably could have looked even worse for the 2022 African champions. Japan never truly had to get out of third gear.
"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," Ellis was quoted as saying by the South African Football Association (SAFA).
"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.
"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."
Key details
Date: Tuesday, June 9 at 3:30 PM local time in Osaka (8:30 AM CAT)
Venue: Yanmar Hanasaka Stadium, Osaka
How to watch: The match is set to air on SABC
Team news
The benching of Tigres UANL forward Thembi Kgatlana for the first half against Japan was the most notable selection decision made by Ellis for the first game.
It may have been partially motivated by Kgatlana's past injury struggles and a limited window to experiment before the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco (July 25 - August 16).
In Ellis' defence (although this may be viewed as somewhat of a backhanded compliment), when Kgatlana was on the pitch in the second half, little changed in the general dynamic of the game. Japan controlled the flow of the match comprehensively and addressing this problem is likely to take more than a change upfront.
Expected lineups
South Africa
LB Karabo Dhlamini | CB Bambanani Mbane | CB Bongeka Gamede | RB Fikile Magama
CM Refiloe Jane | CM Linda Motlhalo | CM Isabella Ludwig
LW Nthabiseng Majiya | ST Thembi Kgatlana | RW Noxolo Cesane
Japan
LB Hikaru Kitagawa | CB Ankari Takeshige | CB Toko Koga | RB Risa Shimizu
CM Yui Hasegawa | CM Yuzuki Yamamoto | CM Momoko Tanikawa
LW Kiko Seike | ST Mina Tanaka | RW Aoba Fujino
Stats
As per Flashscore, Banyana Banyana had an xG of 0.33 for Saturday's game, with no big chances created.
South Africa have lost their last two games against Japan (in 2019 and 2026), having drawn with the then-world champions in their only other meeting in 2012.
