27 October 2024 – COSAFA Banyana Banyana take on Seychelles in their last Group A match on Monday with an eye on the semi-finals of the regional tournament at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Kick off is at 15h00.
Coach Maude Khumalo’s charges confirmed their place after beating Eswatini 3-0 win on Friday. According to COSAFA, even a defeat would see South Africa progress to the semi-finals. This is “because only one of Namibia or Eswatini would be able to match their six points, but whoever it is, South Africa would trump them on the head-to-head rule having beaten both in the competition already.” Khumalo said they would not be complacent, and the mandate still remains the same, not to concede and to score as many goals as they can.
“It’s collective teamwork, hence, we got those results (against Namibia and Eswatini). The players are responding very well to all the technical aspects of the game. Regarding our preparations for Seychelles, we’re not going to say, because of this we’re going to score a lot of goals, and we also expect to score a lot of goals,” she said.
“Our mandate is to make sure that we don’t concede. We will then try, as much as we can, to score goals because it’s another thing that we need to sharpen. So, in this game coming tomorrow, the plan is to make sure that we don’t concede, but also, to get goals from Seychelles”.
Khumalo said whoever they face in the semi-finals they will be well prepared.
“Remember, it’s something that we’re looking at because we’re looking at the people that gave us a bit of a shake-up in the group stages. It is Namibia in terms of their physique and in terms of their running. We saw Zimbabwe, we saw Mozambique, Lesotho and Malawi. Who else can it be? Botswana?”
