One of Banyana Banyana's long-serving players, Noko Matlou spoke about her first World Cup experience.
South Africa's Women's national team will play their second group stage encounter tomorrow against China, looking to turn things around following their first defeat against Spain last weekend.
However, it was still a big occasion for every single Banyana player on the pitch, especially Matlou, who recently celebrated her 150th appearance for the team.
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"I knew that the moment has arrived when we sang the national anthem, especially in the first game, it was just overwhelming to see the stadium full like that and seeing the supporters was just amazing," she told SAFA.
"I am happy because I have sacrificed a lot and that sacrifice today, it is something big for me to be in the World Cup because it shows that if you sacrifice a lot in life, then something good will come which means it was the World Cup.
"It was tough because we knew when we scored first that that was our moment and we had to defend and we did that, unfortunately we conceded two penalties. It was a hard decision and it was painful," she added.
