AGONY AND TEARS

BANYANA Banyana coach Desiree Ellis believes the freak injury to midfielder Gabriela Salgado severely affected her players during their heartbreaking last-minute 2-1 defeat to Nigeria in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) semi-final in Morocco on Tuesday night.

The defending champions were left in despair after Salgado challenged for a ball in the air, but was caught by Nigerian defender Chinwendu Ihezuo as she landed with her leg stuck in the turf in the 84th minute of the closely-contested semi. 

Salgado’s cries of agony had a visible effect on the Banyana players, with some falling to the floor, and coach Ellis in tears on the touchline. 

Nigeria’s US-based midfielder Michelle Alozie would go on to score the winner for the Super Falcons in stoppage time.

Ellis wysed after the game: “From the players’ reactions, it was definitely bad. But I haven’t seen the medical report yet.

“It looked really bad because we had to calm them [players] down and help them refocus, which was very difficult.

“What impacted us was the injury, as you could see how emotional the players were. I knew it was serious because I could see them running away after seeing it. I think that affected them in the last minutes, and they didn’t recover. Unfortunately, it’s part of the game.”

The Nigerian players were equally shocked by Salgado’s injury with captain and player of the match Rasheedat Ajibade expressing her sadness.

Banyana will face Ghana in Friday’s bronze-medal match (9pm kickoff).

Ellis added: “If we didn’t have a reason [to care] before, now we have a reason to play, for Gabby. [We want] to make sure she gets a medal, so that she can go home with a medal.”