Banyana Banyana coach Dr Desiree Ellis says she is looking to finish top of Group C in the 2024 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) after the defending champions qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament without kicking a ball, and with a match to spare.
The South African senior women’s national team progressed to the next round, along with Mali, after the completion of the round robin stages in Group A, with Morocco beating Senegal 1-0 and Zambia triumphant over DR Congo by the same scoreline. Dr Ellis’ charges currently lead their group on goal difference as they are level with Mali on four points each.
The two countries face off on Monday, 14 July 2025 at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda, Morocco in a battle for top spot in the group. Banyana Banyana need only a draw or a win to retain their position ahead of the quarterfinals.
“We can get a point, but I think to play for a point is very dangerous. As long as I can remember, when we needed a draw, we’ve never gone to play for a point because you get caught, I’ve seen it happen to big teams. I don’t know what year it was but Benny McCarthy at Porto, Man United needing a draw and losing it right at the end and so we’re not that kind of team that will take it out of our hands.
“Not sure what they (Mali) are going to do, obviously we’ll see when the game starts how they set up whether they sit deep or whether they come. But we have it in our hands to top the group, so we want to make sure that we win the game,” said Dr Ellis.
This will be the second time the two nations meet, with the previous match ending in a 2-0 victory for South Africa in this same competition back in 2018 in Ghana in the semi-finals. Both sides have travelled a similar path in the 2024 edition so far – a win and a draw each and conceded one goal apiece.
“The last time we played Mali was 2018 where we actually wanted to go to the next stage, and what we know about them is that they are a typical African team – very physical, and they have a key player in their striker. But we have a good analysis team that is briefing us on that, and we know that it’s going to be a tough game.
“And as we’ve seen with the tournament, every team has gotten better and that’s what we love to see for women’s football – the competitiveness going up, and for us as players and individually, it can only make us better. We also have our strengths that we are planning to use against them, so the goal is to get positive results, and I think we will do that,” said Banyana Banyana co-captain Amogelang Motau.
In their recent matches in this tournament, South Africa defeated Ghana and played to a 1-1 draw against Tanzania, while Mali overpowered Tanzania 1-0 and shared the spoils with Ghana 1-1.
“Tanzania and South Africa play similar football, we beat Tanzania in our first match now we are facing South Africa, a team we know very well and we think are beatable. But then again, games like these bring a different dimension but we have our own way of doing things and we will try and employ a different strategy and once the game starts you never know what will happen,” said Mali coach Mohamed Saloum ‘Housseï’
Kickoff between the African Champions and Mali is at 21h00 South African time (20h00 local time in Morocco).
SOURCED FROM SAFA WEBSITE.