Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis says the serious injury of Gabriela Salgado really affected many of her players, but she couldn’t give a media update on her player just yet.
Salgado had to be stretchered off in the 87th minute after picking up a serious injury, which left many of her teammates visibly in shock and tears.
Things went from bad to worse for Banyana when Nigeria scored an injury-time winner to eliminate the defending champions from the tournament.
“I think from the reactions of the players it definitely was bad, I haven’t seen the medical report yet,” Ellis said in the press conference after the match.
“But from the player’s side it definitely looked really, really bad because we had to calm them down, we had to make that they refocus, which was very difficult after that moment.
Ellis also insisted that her team was physically up to game despite having one day less rest and going 120 minutes in their win over Senegal.
“What impacted us was the injury, as you could see how emotional the players were,” she added.
“I knew it was serious because I could see the players running away [after seeing it], I think that impacted them in the last minutes and I don’t think they recovered from that.
“Unfortunately it’s part of the game and it’s so unlucky for Salgado because she missed the last WAFCON also through injury, which she had picked up just before WAFCON.
“It’s unlucky for her, I think it affected us. We matched them pound-for-pound, not that we played 120 minutes [in the previous match]. That impacted us when Gabriela got injured.”