South Africa face Nigeria for World Cup play-off place after Wafcon exit

South Africa must overcome old rivals Nigeria on Thursday to keep their hopes of reaching next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil alive, after their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) campaign ended with a quarter-final defeat by hosts Morocco.

Morocco beat Banyana Banyana 2-1 at Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat on Saturday, denying South Africa automatic qualification for the global finals.

Bambanani Mbane has urged her team-mates to put that disappointment behind them and concentrate on securing one of the two Confederation of African Football (CAF) places in the intercontinental play-offs.

South Africa will meet Nigeria at Stade Moulay Rachid in Casablanca on Thursday at 22:00 South African time. The intercontinental play-offs will be played in two phases between November and February next year.

Mbane acknowledged that South Africa had not produced their best football during the tournament but said the team still had an opportunity to reach the World Cup.

“I think from the beginning of the tournament, we didn’t do our best. I think it was not our time. Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do now to change what has happened, but we can still qualify for the World Cup,” she said.

“We must just chin up and focus on the next game against Nigeria. We know that it’s going to be a difficult game but we will go all out.”

The meeting with the Super Falcons will be another demanding contest between two of Africa’s most established women’s football nations.

Nigeria have won 15 of the 25 previous meetings between the teams, while South Africa have recorded four victories. The other six matches have ended in draws.

Karabo Dhlamini said the squad was frustrated at missing the chance to qualify directly for the World Cup, but insisted that the players needed to remain positive.

“We are disappointed because now we have to take a longer route [of qualifying for the World Cup], but we have to lift our heads up and make sure we win on Thursday.”

The preliminary phase of the intercontinental play-offs will feature six teams. Two will come from AFC, two from CAF, one from the Oceania Football Confederation and one from the lower-ranked team from CONMEBOL.

Those matches will be staged at a centralised venue during November and December. The six teams will be placed into three tiers and will play a series of pre-determined matches. Teams from the same confederation cannot meet each other in this phase.

The two highest-performing teams from the preliminary stage will progress to the final phase, where they will be joined by four sides receiving byes: two from Concacaf, one from UEFA and the higher-ranked team from CONMEBOL.

The final phase will use single knockout matches to determine the final three qualifiers for the World Cup in Brazil.

Teams will be ranked according to the latest Fifa rankings. The three highest-ranked sides will be seeded into separate pathways, with the remaining teams drawn against them. Teams from the same confederation cannot be placed in the same pathway.

Ndebele is in Morocco, courtesy of Banyana Banyana’s sponsor Sasol.

Sowetan