Banyana confident home comforts will help them see off Nigeria

Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis and striker Thembi Kgatlana remain optimistic they can overturn the 1-0 Olympics qualifying first-leg defeat they suffered away to Nigeria in Tuesday's home leg in Pretoria.

The South African women's football team lost narrowly at MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Friday night. Banyana welcome the Super Falcons for the deciding leg at Loftus Versfeld Stadium (7.30pm).

"I think in the first half [in Abuja], we started a bit slow and coming into the second half we were better. That's the positive we need to take going back home with familiar facilities and knowing what to do in front of our fans," Kgatlana said.

"The good thing is [that] this is not a tournament. We know after the game in Pretoria  whoever wins will go through, but they have the advantage after the first leg. There is no away-goal rule.

"I also think that gives us more confidence because we are not chasing the game. We have to win with a better score. We also have an advantage at home with better facilities."

Ellis shared Kgatlana's sentiments and said while her team need to score, they also have to make sure they don't concede.

"We have to look at the footage to see how we can rectify things and how we can be better. We need to score, but we need to be aware to not concede and make sure we score first to get the game back on at even," Ellis said.

The Banyana coach expects the Super Falcons to come to South Africa intent on protecting their advantage with defensive football. 

"It's up to us to take the game to them and make sure we score and also make sure  we are settled in defence and we don't concede," she said.

"They don't have to come [attack], they can sit back, but the onus is on us. We are going back to familiar surroundings and we hope to take the game to them."

Banyana's task is not an impossible mission as the African champions need a 1-0 win to force the fixture to a penalty shootout, or any two-goal margin victory to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.