The South African senior women\u2019s team is currently in camp preparing for the upcoming TotalEnergies Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Morocco. From 2-23 July.<\/p>\n
Out of the five Women\u2019s AFCON finals that Banyana have played, three were against Nigeria, the Super Falcons went to win all of them. However in the recent years Desiree Ellis\u2019 side have been fighting back and have beaten the Falcons twice between 2018 and 2021.<\/p>\n
The rivals have been pitted against each other in this year\u2019s edition of the competition, alongside debutants Burundi and Botswana in Group C.<\/p>\n
Atl\u00e9tico Madrid star, believes they have what it takes do end Nigeria\u2019s domination. Kgatlana was the stand out player in the last edition held in Ghana, walking away as the player of the tournament and top goal scorer having netted five matches in the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for a number of years Banyana hadn\u2019t exported a lot of players overseas and that has given Nigeria and other teams the upper hand because they were able to export players.<\/p>\n
“But then things are starting to look good and exciting for Banyana because we have a number of overseas based players, that means they are training every day, physically and mentally, at a high level.<\/p>\n
“And we have the Hollywoodbets (Super League) that is on season, that means the coaches will not have a problem getting the players to be fit than playing a tournament and some players are offseason.<\/p>\n
“I think for a number of years Banyana have struggled because they were not able to export players but things are looking positive now,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Bragging right of being the best team on the continent are not the only thing on offer for this year\u2019s edition. The top semi finalists will also qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n
The 2018 Women\u2019s Footballer of the Year, says getting three points in their opening match will set them good for getting into the knockout stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have to undermine anyone, it\u2019s football and everyone is there to show what they can do and more specifically in our group having two debutants, for us it\u2019s going to be a challenge to be disciplined and still be able to bring our A game even when we play teams that are lower ranked than us,\u201d says Kgatlana.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean getting into the quarter or semi finals for us is just taking one game at a time because we don\u2019t want to say we\u2019re gonna do this, do that and when things don\u2019t happen we hold ourselves with a gun to the head.<\/p>\n
“But taking one game at a time is what will help us, that is the same mentality we had in 2018 and the important thing was getting the results that we needed in watch,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
Banyana will face Nigeria in their opening match of the competition on 4 July at Prince Moulay Hassan Sports Complex in Rabat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Africa\u2019s Thembi Kgatlana believes this is the time that Banyana Banyana can dethrone Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":10125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[7,14,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-10128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-sports","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n