Argentina and South Africa had to settle for an exciting 2-2 draw in their Women’s World Cup Group G clash at Dunedin Stadium, keeping both teams alive in the tournament but with slim chances of progression.
The South Americans had to fight back from 2-0 down after the Africans scored goals through Linda Motlhalo on the half-hour mark and Thembi Kgatlana in the 66th minute.
Motlhalo tapped the ball into the net from a Kgatlana pass after the winger had raced onto a long ball with the Argentine defenders standing still assuming she was offside. VAR confirmed Kgatlana had been behind the last defender.
For all their neat approach work, Argentina looked unable to threaten Kaylin Swart in the South African goal and their first attempt on target did not arrive until the second half.
In the 74th minute, though, Sophia Braun launched a stunning long-range strike that curled into the corner of the net to cut the deficit in half, before Romina Nunez’s header five minutes later levelled up the scores
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The entertaining draw leaves both sides with a single point South Africa’s first in five World Cup matches and highly unlikely to progress from a group also containing European powers Sweden and Italy, who play on Saturday.
“It is about taking our chances,” said South Africa coach Desiree Ellis. “That’s the problem, we don’t take them, it comes back at us every time. If we had taken our chances we would have had a different conversation.
“It is fantastic we got our first point but three would have been better, it’s like you hand me a chocolate and then take it away, and I love chocolate.”
Argentina will now face Sweden on Wednesday, while South Africa play Italy at the same time with both teams looking for a historic first round-of-16 berth.