South Africa midfielder Leandra Smeda has blamed her side's 2-0 loss to Japan in Sunday's international friendly in Fukuoka on their defensive mistakes.
Having played out a 0-0 draw in their first meeting at the London Olympic Games in 2012, Desiree Ellis' team were aiming to bounce back from their Tokyo 2020 elimination against the Japanese.
However, first-half defensive errors saw Saki Kumugai and Yukie Sagamusa fire the 2020 Olympic Games hosts to their first victory over Banyana Banyana at the Kitakyushu Stadium.
And the Vittsjo midfielder, who celebrated her 100th international cap, refused to be disappointed and insisted her side will take some lessons from the defeat to the Asians.
"It was a good game, we played well and we knew that it was going to be a tough game," Smeda told media.
"We've played with them before and this was the second time we were playing each other. We created some chances but our support in attack could not get us a goal upfront.
"We made a few mistakes and got punished for that. We could see that if we make any mistake against a team like Japan, we will get scored from them.
"I think we can take a lot of lessons from this game and learn from the mistakes we made. "For me, it was a good game to get my 100th cap against a team like Japan. I really enjoyed the match."
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