Desiree Ellis’ ladies were hammered 3-0 by Finland in the ninth and 10th place play-off match
Katarina Naumanen opened the scoring for the Europeans just after the half hour mark, as Finland took a 1-0 lead into the break. Banyana were unable to make a comeback in the second half, as Finland scored two goals in the second half.
Iina Salma made it two six minutes in the second stanza and Olga Ahtinen wrapped up the convincing victory with a third five minutes from time.
Banyana played Finland in their opening Cyprus Women’s Cup match last week and it finished 2-2, but this time they were outclassed by the Europeans.
“Everyone goes into a tournament with the intention to win it, and so did we, but it was not to be – however, we also came here to prepare for the World Cup, and we got good competition from the teams we came up against. I am quite excited that we managed to achieve our objectives, which have made this a worthwhile exercise,” Ellis told the SAFA website.
Banyana will land in South Africa on Friday at 11am.