By SABC Sport
11th July 2022
South Africa secured top spot in Group C at the 2022 Womens Africa Cup of Nations, following their 1 - 0 victory over the tournaments debutant, Botswana Sunday evening at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Morocco.
Banyana showed a dominating character over the Mares and relished a lot of the ball time in the first half, with the star Thembi Kgatlana and Nomvula Kgoale testing the back of the net in the opening 15 minutes.
With over 10 minutes to the end the of the first half, Ellis had to throw-in in her army Melinda Kgadiete to replace a key player Jermaine Seoposenwe who came off because of injury.
Eventually in the second half Nthabiseng Ronisha Majiya netted a late only goal of the night for the home team as they completed their victory.
A super sub! ?Nthabiseng Majiya was the hero for #TeamSouthAfrica against Botswana! ?âï¸#TotalEnergiesWAFCON2022 | #EmpoweringOurGame | @Banyana_Banyana pic.twitter.com/kdLkw7VmJe— #TotalEnergiesWAFCON2022 (@CAFwomen) July 10, 2022
But the win came at some cost as Botswana refused to go down easily while holding off Desiree Ellis' side until the dying minutes of the game when they finally broke the deadlock to heave of nine points in the pool phase and set up a quarterfinal meeting on Thursday against Tunisia.
However, Banyana will go to Thursday's quarter-final clash worried about the injuries picked up by their key players Thembi Kgatlana and Jermaine Seoposenwe last night.
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Botswana also advance to the quarter-finals, joining the hosts Morocco, Nigeria, Zambia, Senegal and Cameroon in the knockout rounds of the competition. The Mares will take on Morocco On Wednesday.
Other Fixtures
Wednesday - Zambia V Senegal on (19:00 SA time)
Thursday - Cameroon V Nigeria (19:00) and
Banyana Banyana V Tunisia (22:00).