Banyana Banyana started their year on a bad note when they lost their Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Challenge match to the Netherlands at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
The Netherlands defeated Banyana 2-1 win in the international friendly played in sunny conditions.
It was Banyana's first match of the year since last year December.
The Dutch opened the scoring in the second minute with a goal by midfielder Sherida Spitse.
Striker Anna Miedema doubled the lead in the 20th minute, after which CAF Women's Player of the Year Thembi Kgatlana halved the deficit in the 33rd minute.
Banyana pressed extremely high in the opening minutes and Kgatlana nearly grabbed a second when her cross-cum shot forced Van Veenendaal to palm away the danger.
Momentum was firmly with the home side when on 62 minutes, Jermaine Seoposenwe held off a defender to go face-to-face on goal, but she shot tamely at Van Veedendal.
Moments later, Kgatlana continued to threaten after she crept behind the defence to latch onto a long ball that in the end crashed into the side netting.
Banyana’s resistance continued closer to full-time, but the Dutch grew strong to see out the victory and maintain their perfect record against the South Africans
Banyana's next match as they look to trial combinations ahead of the Women's Soccer World Cup in France in June - is on Tuesday, January 22 against Sweden at 19:00, also at the Cape Town stadium.
