The South African women’s national soccer team, Banyana Banyana, are only three games away from securing their first-ever Olympic qualification.
Banyana Banyana have already thrashed Namibia 13-0 and 13-1, and Angola 6-2, en route to qualifying for Athens 2004.
This week the women’s national team will play Angola in Luanda in the second leg of the Olympic qualifiers. A win or draw will leave the team with only one more team to beat (Ghana or Nigeria) before qualifying to fly to Athens to represent Africa.
Banyana coach Gregory Mashilo said: ‘I believe that we can qualify for the Olympics.â€
But what currently stands in the way for Mashilo is Angola.
The coach is well aware that Angola is a wounded lion and that Banyana will be playing them in front of their home crowd. He is expecting a tough game.
Angola will need to score five goals without Banyana scoring any to ensure that the South African women’s team does not make it to Athens. For Banyana a draw will ensure they go through to the next round where they are likely to meet their nemesis, the Super Falcons, Nigeria, or Ghana in the final game for group qualifications.
With only one women’s African team able to qualify for the Olympics, the South African team would best be prepared for a tough time with either team.
Ghana and Nigeria have drawn 1-1 in their first-leg games and this week one of them will be looking to win to ensure they book a date with either Angola or South Africa in the last match in March.
Mashilo said: ‘We must be very cautious with either team. We must not tell ourselves that if Ghana beat Nigeria we will be able to beat them.â€
The South African coach understands that both Ghana and Nigeria will be hard teams to beat.
While South Africa looks to set to secure a place in the Olympics for the first time, Nigeria will be looking to make it for the third time.
This is the first time a qualifying system was introduced to decide which African team will play at the women’s Olympic football finals. Previously football governing body Fifa chose teams on the basis of their past performances at the Women’s World Cup tournament.