Thembi Kgatlana of South Africa challenges Alimata Belem of Burkina Faso during the 2026 Womens Africa Cup of Nations match at Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca on Tuesday night. Banyana Banyana left it late to progress to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) quarter-finalsafter beating Burkina Faso 1-0 with another Thembi Kgatlana goal in their final Group B match at Prince Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca on Tuesday night. Banyana’s victory meant they finished second in the group with four points, three behind leaders Ivory Coast, who did them a favor by beating Tanzania in their concurrent fixture.
The South Africans will be grateful to Ivory Coast for the win, as any other result against Tanzania would have counted against Banyana on the head-to-head rule, following their loss to the Twiga Stars in their opening game. Banyana will know they had an underwhelming group-stage campaign. As such, they need to step up their game against hosts Morocco in the quarter-finals on Saturday if they are to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil as one of the four Wafcon semi-finalists.
A loss against Morocco wouldn’t mark the end of their World Cup hopes. Instead, they would have to earn qualification the hard way – via the grueling continental and inter-continental play-offs. It had been a decade since Banyana last entered the final round of the Wafcon group stage needing a win to progress. Having delivered back then by hammering Egypt 5-0,confidence was high that they could repeat the feat in Casablanca.
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