South Africa head coach Desiree Ellis says her team must be mentally and physically prepared for their crucial WAFCON 2026 play-in clash against Nigeria’s Super Falcons in Casablanca.
The Banyana Banyana were eliminated from the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations after suffering a 2-1 defeat to hosts Morocco in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Nigeria also missed out on the semi-finals after falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat against Cameroon in a fiercely contested quarter-final at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium on Sunday night.
Despite their respective exits from the tournament, both African heavyweights still have an opportunity to keep their hopes of reaching the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup alive.
South Africa and Nigeria will meet at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca on Thursday, with the winner advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs.
The play-off tournament, scheduled for November and December 2026, will feature 10 teams competing for three available places at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
For Ellis, the upcoming encounter represents another opportunity for her team to fight for World Cup qualification after their hopes of winning the continental title were ended by Morocco.
“We’re not out of it. We didn’t want to go down that route, but it’s been thrown at us,” Ellis said, according to ESPN.
The South African coach stressed the need for her players to quickly recover from their quarter-final disappointment and focus on the challenge ahead.
“We need to get ready for the next game mentally, get ready for it physically, we need to recover quickly,” she added.
The clash with Nigeria is expected to be highly competitive, with both teams determined to avoid missing out on the global tournament.
Nigeria’s Super Falcons entered the WAFCON as one of Africa’s most decorated women’s football teams but were unable to overcome Cameroon in the last eight.
South Africa, meanwhile, had been hoping to build on their recent progress in women’s football but saw their title ambitions ended by the tournament hosts.With the direct route to the latter stages of WAFCON now closed for both sides, Thursday’s meeting takes on added significance.
Victory will give either Nigeria or South Africa another route towards the 2027 Women’s World Cup, while defeat would leave the losing side facing a major setback in its qualification campaign.
The encounter in Casablanca therefore promises to be more than a battle for pride. It will be a decisive contest between two of Africa’s leading women’s football nations, with a place in the inter-confederation play-offs at stake.
