Banyana Banyana head coach Dr Desiree Ellis says they are well aware of what is at stake ahead of the all-important CAF Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON 2026) clash against Burkina Faso on Tuesday night.
The two nations face off in the last Group B fixture with spots in the next round of the competition up for grabs. Kickoff is at 22h00 South African time.
Banyana Banyana are bottom of the table with just one point after two matches, while Burkina Faso are third and two points ahead. In the other Group B fixture, Ivory Coast who are top of the table on four points, take on second-placed Tanzania who have three.
“Burkina Faso are not here by fluke, but we have to focus on ourselves. We have to control play from the first whistle – we can only control what we can control. We have prepared well and we will be ready to give the best we can, we know what is at stake.
It is probably the final for us, if we don’t get the result we require, it’s the end of the road. We have been in similar positions before, and I believe we have players with enough experience to get us over the line. Yes, there will be pressure, but we have never doubted ourselves and we can draw inspirations from the fact that we have done it before,” said Dr Ellis.
For South Africa to progress to the quarterfinals, they have to beat the West Africans and then hope that table-topping Ivory Coast get the same results against Tanzania in the other group match that will kick off at the same time.
“I don’t think we realised how much it was going to take for us to be where we are, mentally we didn’t expect it. Tomorrow is another battle and we are ready, we can’t talk about the past, we have to focus on this match. It is going to take everything from us to get a result.
Our spirit has never faltered despite the results. I am excited because it is going to be a battle, it is what we would call the group of death. It will be a tough match, and both teams are under pressure, but then again sometimes pressure is what we need to do well because it is part of the game,” said Banyana Banyana goalkeeper Kaylin Swart.
Only the top two teams in each group will progress to the quarter-finals, with the winners from the last eight automatically securing qualification to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year.
