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Banyana Banyana are a match away from punching a ticket to Brazil for a third appearance at the Fifa Women’s World Cup. And not without taking South Africans on a rollercoaster of emotions.
After losing the opening match to unheralded Tanzania and salvaging a lifeline by drawing with Ivory Coast, Banyana flipped the script on Tuesday by beating Burkina Faso, paving the way for their continued participation at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Going into their final Group B match against the Lady Stallions, Banyana stared at the exit door. Defeat would’ve been disastrous. Early elimination would have seen their campaign go up in smoke and mark the first time the Desiree Ellis-coached side failed to reach the knockout stages.
From a perilous position, Banyana live to fight another day. To keep their Women’s World Cup dream alive, they must move another mountain.
The South Africans’ fate was not entirely in their hands. To reach the quarterfinals, they needed to beat the Burkinabe and hope for a favourable result in the Ivory Coast and Tanzania clashes. The football gods smiled on them. A hard-earned victory secured by Thembi Kgatlana’s solitary strike coupled with the Ivorians’ triumph over Tanzania meant Banyana finished on four points, second behind the West Africans who topped the group with seven.
From a perilous position, Banyana live to fight another day. To keep their Women’s World Cup dream alive, they must move another mountain. They will renew rivalry with Morocco in an all-colossal last 8 showdown on Saturday night, a mighty clash, the winner of which will reap rich rewards as the semifinalists will secure a spot in the 10th edition of the Fifa Women’s World Cup to be staged in Brazil from July 20 to August 20 next year.
Buoyed by fanatical home support, Morocco beat Kenya and Algeria and drew with Senegal, and they will be extra motivated to get one over South Africa, who sunk the host nation to lift their sole crown in the North African country in 2022.
Though they did it the hard way to get this far, what matters is that Ellis’s charges summoned the strength and showed the discipline and determination to dig themselves out of a dark hole.
Sharpshooter Kgatlana was sorely missed at last year’s Wafcon after she was excused for personal reasons. And she has made her presence felt as it was her last-gasp goal that grabbed a 2-2 draw against Ivory Coast to breathe life into Banyana’s fading hopes.
May she continue to be the fillip and fire Banyana to a victory that will secure a spot in the land of samba, carnival and the Christ the Redeemer statue.
May Ellis and her sisters warm the hearts of fellow womenfolk this Women’s Month by once more getting one over the Moroccans, booking their berth among the 32 nations that will compete in South America.
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