Banyana Banyana forwards Thembi Kgatlana and Jermaine Seoposenwe will be on opposite ends of the Regio Femenil Classic as they will battle it out in the quarterfinals of the Clausura 2025 tournament.
The two South Africans were drawn against each other by virtue of their teams finishing fourth (Rayadas del Monterrey) and fifth (UANL Tigres) at the end of the season.
The clash takes place on Saturday morning (04h00 – 26 April 2025) South African time in the first leg of play-offs which comes after 17 weeks of league action.
Monterrey are the defending champions after winning the double last season – beating the same Tigres in their last meeting in the final of the end of the season clash.
This will be the 10th meeting between the two teams in the competition, but the first at the this stage. Both are under pressure to deliver – Rayadas will be looking to start on a positive note in an effort to defend their title and become the first team to win three in a row.
Tigres on the other hand will be eager to halt the opposition and get back to winning ways in the tournament.
The last fixture ended in a 5-1 victory for UANL in the league – but the play-offs often are a different beast.
Seoposenwe and Kgatlana both finished with seven goals in the season, and it will be interesting to see if any of them can add to their tallies.
In other playoffs matches Club America had a very fine season to finish first on the table, setting up a match-up against the eighth-placed Juarez (Seoposenwe’s former team).
Pachuca occupy the second spot and will take on Atlas who took the seventh position, while Pumas who finished third, lock horns with Atlas who took sixth place.
The other South Africans playing in Mexico, Hilda Magaia and Amogelang Motau (both Xolos de Tijuan) failed to make the play-offs as they managed position 14 in the 18-team league. Sinoxolo Cesane’s Mazatlán had a season to forget as they were able to win only three matches.
Rayadas and Tigres will meet in the return leg on Tuesday morning (29 April 2025).
This is how the Liga MX Femenil ended:
1 – Club América
2 – Pachuca
3 – UNAM Pumas
4 – Rayadas de Monterrey
5 – UANL Tigres
6 – Chivas de Guadalajara
7 – Atlas
8 – Juárez
9 – Gallos Blancos de Querétaro
10 – Cruz Azul
11 – Toluca
12 – Club León
13 – Xolos de Tijuana
14 – Atlético de San Luis
15 – Necaxa
16 – Mazatlán
17 – Santos Laguna
18 – Puebla
By Matlhomola Morake
