Banyana Banyana is confident they can overturn Nigeria’s Super Falcons’ 1-nil advantage from the first leg and seal qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The team will host Nigeria in the second leg at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Tuesday evening.
The winning team will represent the African continent at the Games.. Forward, Thembi Kgatlana, says they will be able to play their usual football in Pretoria, which they couldn’t do in the first leg because of the condition of the playing surface.
Banyana Banyana made the country proud by becoming the first national football team to reach the knockout stage of a FIFA World Cup when they achieved the feat in Australia and New Zealand last year.
The team set out to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games, aiming to add to their successes and overcome the disappointment of missing out on the Tokyo Olympics four years earlier.. But it’s not looking good for Banyana after their 1-nil defeat to the Nigerians in the first leg in Abuja on Friday. However, the players believe they can win the tie, playing in favorable conditions at home in front of their fans.
“I still think that we can turn it around, I just hope that the fans come out in numbers; hopefully that will help us a lot in the second leg,” says Kaylin Swart, Banyana Banyana keeper.
“The fact that they didn’t cut the grass, and they know we are a ball-playing team, and now that we will play at home, we have to make sure that the pitch will favor us the same way it favored them in the first leg so that we can have an advantage playing at home,” says Thembi Kgatlana, Banyana Banyana forward.
The South Africans know they must score first to have a chance of qualifying, so they will take the game to their opponents.“We just have to make sure that we’re the first team to score but we also need to be aware to not concede and make sure that we score first to get the game even and then control the game,” says Desiree Ellis, Banyana Banyana coach.
In another Olympic qualifier, Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses will host Zambia’s Copper Queens in Rabat in their second leg, with the North Africans having a 2-1 advantage from the first leg.