The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana will face Tanzania in the third round of the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers – this after the East African country defeated Botswana over two legs in the second round, 2-0 in Dar es Salaam (Thursday, 26 October 2023) and 1-0 in Gaborone on Tuesday, 31 October.
South Africa on the other hand were made to sweat by a determined Democratic Republic of Congo in their 1-all draw in the away leg in Kinshasa, before progressing to the next round following a 2-0 win in the return leg at Orlando Stadium in Soweto. Thembi Kgatlana scored all three goals for Banyana Banyana.
This will be the sixth meeting between the two nations, with Desiree Ellis’ charges dominating all the way on five wins – three competitive matches and two international friendlies.
They first encountered each other in 2010 and their last clash was in 2014.
South Africa vs Tanzania – Head to Head:
23 July 2006
CAF Women’ African Championship
3-0
04 August 2006
CAF Women’ African Championship
4-0
31 October 2010
CAF Women’ African Championship
2-1
20 May 2012
International Friendly
5-2
31 August 2014
Friendly
6-1
In other second round results, Ghana were too strong for Benin, beating them 5-0 on aggregate after 3-0 and 2-0 victories in the two legs.
North Africans Morocco had no problems as they cruised past Namibia, winning 2-0 in each leg – 4-0 on aggregate.
East Africans Uganda gave Cameroon a huge fright when they won the first leg at home 2-0, only for the West Africans to regroup and turn the tables in a thriller, needing extra time to clinch the tie 3-0 on the day, 3-2 on aggregate.
Ethiopia held Nigeria to a 1-all in Addis Ababa, but proved to be no match in the away leg, with the Super Falcons registering an easy 4-0 win – 4-1 on aggregate.
Zambia and Tunisia did not have to kick a ball to book their spots in the third round after both Mali and Cote d’Ivoire withdrew from the qualifiers, giving the two nations a walkover.
All four countries that were at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup – South Africa, Zambia, Morocco and Nigeria – are still alive in the competition, where all eight teams are capable of advancing to the fourth and final round.
Morocco takes on Tunisia in a tricky North African affair, while Central Africa meets West Africa in the Cameroon vs Nigeria tie.
Ghana is up against Zambia, with East tackling South in the Tanzania vs Banyana Banyana encounter.
In round four, the winners between Tanzania and South Africa will face the victors of the Nigeria/Cameroon clash, while the Morocco/Tunisia winners will go toe to toe with the last team standing between Zambia and Ghana.
The remaining two teams will earn the right to represent the African continent at the Olympic Games in Paris, following on the footsteps of Zambia, who were the sole representatives of the continent at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after defeating Cameroon for an automatic place. The West Africans entered into a play-off match against a team from CONMEBOL, losing to Chile.
South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Nigeria are the only countries from Africa to have qualified for the Games.
First round results:
Top seven finishers at the 2022 WAFCON got 1st round byes
| Team 1 | Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | |||||
| Guinea-Bissau | 4–5 | Benin | 2–2 | 2–3 | |||||
| Guinea | 0–7 | Ghana | 0–3 | 0–4 | |||||
| Burkina Faso | 2–3 | Mali | 0–1 | 2–2 (a.e.t.) | |||||
| Ivory Coast | w/o | Sierra Leone | |||||||
| Namibia | 2–0 | Equatorial Guinea | 2–0 | 0–0 | |||||
| Uganda | 4–3 | Rwanda | 3–3 | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | |||||
| Ethiopia | 10–0 | Chad | 6–0 | 4–0 | |||||
| Congo | w/o | Tanzania | |||||||
| Mozambique | w/o | DR Congo |
Second round results:
| Team 1 | Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | |||||
| Benin | 0–5 | Ghana | 0-3 | 0–2 | |||||
| Mali | w/o | Zambia | |||||||
| Ivory Coast | w/o | Tunisia | |||||||
| Namibia | 4–0 | Morocco | 0-2 | 0–2 | |||||
| Uganda | 2–3 | Cameroon | 2-0 | 0–3 (a.e.t.) | |||||
| Ethiopia | 1–5 | Nigeria | 1–1 | 0–4 | |||||
| Tanzania | 3–0 | Botswana | 2-0 | 1–0 | |||||
| DR Congo | 1–3 | South Africa | 1–1 | 0–2 |
Third round fixtures:
| Team 1 | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | ||||||
| Ghana | vs | Zambia | 19–28 Feb | 19–28 Feb | |||||
| Tunisia | vs | Morocco | 19–28 Feb | 19–28 Feb | |||||
| Cameroon | vs | Nigeria | 19–28 Feb | 19–28 Feb | |||||
| Tanzania | vs | South Africa | 19–28 Feb | 19–28 Feb |
By Matlhomola Morake
