Thembi Kgatlana backs South Africa’s experience for Morocco Wafcon quarter-final

Thembi Kgatlana believes South Africa’s greater Women’s Africa Cup of Nations experience can help them overcome hosts Morocco and reach the semi-finals on Saturday.

The quarter-final in Rabat carries added significance, with victory also securing a place at next year’s World Cup in Brazil. The four teams reaching the semi-finals of this year’s tournament will qualify for the global finals.

South Africa, known as Banyana Banyana, have featured in 15 editions of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and have never missed the competition since 1995. Morocco, by contrast, have appeared at the tournament five times.

The two sides have already met in the final of this competition, when Banyana Banyana defeated Morocco in Rabat in 2022 to claim what remains their only Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title.

“Right now the most important thing is to recover to make sure that we arrive in the quarterfinals fresh. We have the experience … we’ve played Wafcon so many times and we understand the importance of focusing on ourselves,” Kgatlana said.

South Africa had to wait until the final group match to confirm their progress after a difficult start in Group B. They lost to Tanzania and drew with Ivory Coast in their opening two fixtures before Kgatlana scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso in Casablanca on Wednesday.

That result proved decisive after Ivory Coast beat Tanzania 2-1 in the other match, played at the same time, to give South Africa a major boost in the race for the last eight.

Kgatlana said the team had gradually regained confidence during the group stage, while accepting that reaching the knockout phase had sometimes required a practical approach rather than an attractive one.

“We started the tournament really slowly but we started to get our momentum against Ivory Coast. We’ve always known the importance of going into the quarterfinals, so we were not just going to give up that easy,” Kgatlana said, adding that sometimes you have to grind results without playing beautiful football.

“Sometimes football isn’t nice and beautiful, with tactics. Sometimes it’s just about getting the three points to move forward and that’s what we needed.

“Now everyone is happy and smiling in the locker room because they know how much it means for us to go through.”

Morocco will have home advantage when the teams meet in Rabat, but South Africa’s history in the competition provides a significant source of confidence as they pursue another semi-final appearance and a place at next year’s World Cup.

The quarter-final will also give Banyana Banyana the opportunity to repeat their 2022 final success over the hosts in the same city.

Source: Sowetan