Argentina on Friday forced South Africa to 2-2 draw at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in a match full of guts in a group G match of the current FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Thembi Kgatlana ran rings around the Argentine defence and found Linda Motihalo who plies her trade in Glasgow scored 30th minute with the side foot and it took some time for the VAR to verify the goal.
South Africa scored again at 45+7th minute from a good combination that found Kgatlana but it was ruled offside
Kgatlana of Louisville FC scored the second goal for South Africa in the 60th minute when Jermaine Seoposenwe grabbed the ball from a defender and laced a pass for her.
Argentina woke up from a deep slumber of a possible defeat when Bosengundo dribbled into the box and found Sophia Braun, a Defender for Leon FC who shot into the top corner of the net in 74th minute for their first goal.
Argentina equalized 79th minute when Rodriguez came from the right with a cross that found substitute Romina Nunez who scored with a header.
Argentina was at the 2003, 2007 and 2019 games but never went beyond the group stages. The team came from three goals down behind to draw Scotland in 2019 and have to avoid defeat in this tournament. Nigeria showed Argentina class in 1995 and 2015.
Argentina had been winless in 11 all-time matches at the World Cup drawing 3 (including against South Africa) and losing 8 matches played by any team without a win. The team has the most games played at the world cup without a win (played 11 matches, drew 3 and lost 8) and they failed to score in 7 of those 11 games.
South Africa scored the opening goal in three of their five matches at the world cup including their two matches in this tournament.
Sweden had beaten South Africa 2-1 on the 23rd in the group opener and Italy piped Argentina 1-0. The second match of the second round is between Sweden and Italy scheduled for Wellington Regional Stadium tomorrow Saturday with Wales Ref Cheryl Foster going to be in charge. The 3rd round matches in group G will be played simultaneously on 2nd August with Argentina facing Sweden at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton and South Africa tackling Italy in a most win encounter at Wellington Regional Stadium.
Sweden leads the group with 3 points from a match scoring 2 goals and conceding one; Italy is 2nd with 3 points from a match scoring a goal and conceding none; South Africa is 3rd with a point scoring 3 goals and conceding 4 while Argentina is 4th with a point scoring 2 goals and conceding 3.
The credentials of the School Teacher Referee who handled the match between Argentina and South Africa, Anna – Marie Keighley of New Zealand is unique. She officiated at 2014 World U17 cup; 2018 world U20 cup and 2022 U20 world cup. She was also at the 2019 tournament in France.
Keighley was criticized for awarding penalty to Japan for a foul that occurred outside the penalty area in the match between Japan versus England in the 2015 semifinal of the FIFA women’s world cup.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
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