Banyana edge Burkina Faso 1-0 to reach Wafcon quarterfinal against Morocco

Banyana Banyana earned a hard-fought 1-0 win over Burkina Faso to progress to the knockout stage of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) at the Stade Moulay Rachid in Casablanca on Tuesday night. Banyana will meet host Morocco in the quarterfinal in Rabat on Saturday, where a place in the semifinal and the 2027 Fifa World Cup in Brazil will be at stake. The team had to beat Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast and get all three points from their match with Tanzania, and that’s how it unfolded in Casablanca to settle Group B.

South Africa, who gave a much-improved performance from their previous outings at the tournament, benefited from Ivory Coast’s 2-1 win over Tanzania in the other match at the Stade Larbi Zaouli. Banyana Banyana end the night victorious as they beat Burkina Faso 1-0 and progress to the last 8pic.twitter.com/dixH6bqMm5 South Africa and coach Desiree Ellis went into the match under pressure after defeat to Tanzania and a draw with Ivory Coast. They finished the group stage in second spot after Ivory Coast with four points, but they must be a lot better in the next round.

Ellis left nothing to chance as she started the match with experienced campaigners Kaylin Swart, Bambanani Mbane, Refiloe Jane, Linda Motlhalo, Hildah Magaia, Noxolo Cesane and Thembi Kgatlana. Banyana opened the scoring after 21 minutes when striker Kgatlana connected with a defence-splitting pass delivered from the midfield by Fikile Magama. There were two personal milestones in the match for Magaia and Gabriela Moodaly-Salgado, who came on as a second-half substitute and registered 50 caps for the national team.