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Banyana Banyana mentor Desiree Ellis cherishes the opportunity to have another shot at qualifying for next year’s World Cup, having to start off by overcoming old foes Nigeria at Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca on Thursday (10pm SA time).
Banyana and Nigeria, who respectively won the last two editions of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), find themselves having to fight for one of Caf’s two spots for intercontinental playoffs as a result of failing to earn automatic qualification for next year’s global spectacle in Brazil, thanks to their defeats to Morocco and Cameroon in the Wafcon quarterfinals.
“It’s not a place we want to be, but we have been given another opportunity. It’s a very big opportunity to go on a very long journey, so we have to grab the opportunity with both hands. We obviously have to bring our A game ... there’s no margin for error,” Ellis told a presser in Casablanca on Wednesday.
The Banyana coach wants her troops to use the agony their suffered when they lost 2-1 to the hosts of the ongoing Wafcon, Morocco, in the competition’s quarterfinals as a motivation versus the Super Falcons.
“The disappointment of losing the previous game is going to probably drive us to get a positive result. It’s not going to be an easy game, it’s the two big guns of Africa football,” Ellis said.
The intercontinental play-offs will be played in two phases between late this year and early next year.
The preliminary phase will consist of six teams — two each from AFC and Caf, one from OFC, and the lower-ranked team from Conmebol — competing at a centralised venue in November–December.
The teams will be drawn into three tiers to play a set of predetermined matches, with teams from the same confederation barred from facing each other. The top two countries from this phase will advance to the final stage.
The final phase will consist of six teams − two teams advancing from the preliminary phase and four teams who received a bye; two from Concacaf, one from Uefa, and the higher-ranked team from Conmebol − competing in single knockout matches to determine the final three qualifiers for the event in Brazil.
The teams will be ranked according to the most recent Fifa rankings. The three highest-ranked teams will be seeded into pathways, and the other teams will be drawn against them. Teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn into the same pathway.
• Ndebele is in Morocco, courtesy of Banyana Banyana’s sponsor Sasol
Sowetan
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