South Africa’s senior women’s national team, Banyana Banyana, are expecting a win against Tanzania in their second match of the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Banyana made a great start a few days ago when they beat Ghana 2-0 in their Group C clash played at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda, Morocco.
A win against Tanzania at the Oudja venue will see Banyana Banyana reach the quarterfinal stage, and the team’s coach, Dr. Desiree Ellis, is cautious despite Banyana being ranked second in Africa behind Nigeria, while Tanzania comes in at 23rd spot.
“Obviously, we want to get a win to cement our place in the second round. The last group stage match will determine who goes top, but we have seen in the matches over the last couple of days that there are no easy games,” said Dr. Ellis.
Kickoff for this encounter is 21h00 SA Time (20h00 local time in Morocco).
It’s been 17 months since South Africa faced the East Africans, where Dr. Ellis’ charges won at home and away (0-3, 1-0) in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifiers in Dar es Salaam and Mbombela, respectively.
“We have played Tanzania before, but that goes out of the window; it means nothing. We also know that they need to win to stay in the competition, so we need to make sure that we don’t concede because we are going to create opportunities and then take those opportunities,” she added.
Banyana Banyana are the defending champions, and Tanzania, on the other hand, return to the WAFCON after a 15-year absence. They last played in the 2010 edition and bombed out in the group stage.
Ghana will go toe-to-toe with Mali in the other Group C match to be played at the Berkane Stadium.
