Banyana limber up to meet Nigeria

29 November 2016 - 09:58 By MARC STRYDOM

Meeting Nigeria in the African Women's Cup of Nations semifinals is like a cup final for Banyana Banyana, says midfielder Nompumelelo Nyandeni.After a draw against Zimbabwe and a defeat against tournament hosts Cameroon in the group stages, Banyana found their stride with a 5-0 thumping of Egypt on Friday.South Africa, who meet Nigeria at Stade Municipal de Limbe tonight, finished second in Group A on four points to Cameroon's nine.Banyana are in for a tough match against Nigeria who were winners of Group B on goal difference from Ghana.The Super Falcons thrashed Mali 6-0 in their first round-robin stage match, then drew 1-1 against Ghana before wrapping up their semifinal place with a 4-0 thrashing of Kenya to end with a +10 goal difference on seven points."It is always a battle of the best when we face Nigeria," Nyandeni said."The rivalry between us started long before our days in the national team, and playing against the Super Falcons is always like a cup final, regardless of the stage of the tournament."In any case once you are in the last four you can't pick and choose. Those teams did not get there by fluke, and to get to the top you have to go past them. It is not going to be an easy game but I am confident we can walk away with a victory."We have beaten them before and, to do that again, we will have to play as a team."It took us three matches to start scoring goals in this tournament. Our confidence levels are on a high after the win against Egypt."Nyandeni said physically imposing Nigeria had their weaknesses."We have been watching their matches since the start of the tournament, and will now analyse them with the technical team," the midfielder, with 115 caps for Bafana, said.Cameroon meet Ghana in today's earlier semifinal in Yaounde (5pm South African time). - TMG Digital/TMG Sport..

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