Banyana Banyana will take on Madagascar in the second leg of their 2028 Olympic Games’ qualifier in Bloemfontein on Tuesday. In the first match last Friday, the South African women pummeled the visitors 4-nil at the Toyota Stadium.
Banyana received a bye for the first round of the qualifiers. They then started their campaign in the second round on a high note. The 4-nil victory in the first leg against Madagascar has helped the Desiree Ellis-led side to put one foot in the third round. Coach Ellis, however, still expects her players not to rest on their laurels.
“We said we wanted to take the tie from them, I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but we have to play really badly for us not to go through in this round. But we still have to put up a professional performance. We know the crowd is going to come out, there’s no other way about it; you come to Bloemfontein, there’s no way that you cannot have a crowd. A good performance gives you good results as well.”
The players go into the match high in confidence. But they don’t want to be seen as undermining their opponents. Defender Antonia Maponya says the second-leg encounter will help them to prepare for next month’s FIFA World Cup playoffs.
“This is one of the most important games, however, we are not under pressure because we did well in our first game, so it’s just a matter of having to practice how we want to do things and preparing for the tournament we will be playing in November.”
Banyana failed to automatically qualify for the World Cup in Brazil next year. Hence star-striker, Thembi Kgatlana, concurs with Maponya.
“Beyond this game, we are already thinking that we will be playing the FIFA playoffs in November/ December, that’s already the things we need to be able to prepare. We already have a 4-goal lead, not that we are undermining Madagascar, but we are going to be using the next game to focus on the things that we want to do better and get better as a team.”
After five rounds of home-and-away qualifying matches, only two teams from Africa will be part of the 16 nations that will compete at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
