Banyana Banyana disappointed to return home empty handed - Refiloe Jane

South Africa came in as defending champions, but were edged out of third place by Ghana on a 4-3 penalty shootout defeat after the match ended in a 1-1 draw during regulation time on Friday.

However, Jane says she is pleased that, despite all the challenges the team faced on and off the pitch, they still managed to give their best.

"Obviously we're disappointed with going home empty handed. Throughout the tournament, it wasn't an easy one for the players, with a lot of challenges on and off the pitch," acknowledged Jane.

"But we tried to put in a great performance and we tried to do our level best, and we tried to retain the trophy as the main objective, but going home now there's a lot of work that still needs to be done.

"We're hoping, come the next WAFCON, which is very important as a World Cup qualifying tournament, we hope we can do well, but firstly we need to do well in the qualifiers."

READ: Nigeria crowned WAFCON champions after thrilling comeback

This is the first time in the past three editions that Banyana failed to make the podium, having claimed silver in 2018 before taking gold in 2022. 

Jane believes the team is in transition and a lot of positives can be taken from this year’s experience, despite failing to medal.

"It's disappointing, to sum up the tournament, going home without a medal, but given the situation within camp and the players we had, it was a lot of transitions taking place in the team," she added.

"We're hoping a lot of positives can be taken from this tournament and we'll build on that."