Maud Khumalo praises her charges for the fightback in COSAFA Cup semi-final

For the first time in the tournament, South Africa found themselves trailing but did not drop their heads, with Tshegofatso Motlogelwa equalising from the spot to make it 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.

Banyana will tackle 2022 champions Zambia in the final on Saturday. The Copper Queens brushed aside defending champions Malawi 2-0 in the other semi-final.

"If you are not mentally strong, it's something else because when you are behind you can see the body language but they were busy trying,” Khumalo said.

“So, it's something that we are encouraging that keep on going as long as we can get a goal before half-time then we'll be settled so I could sense that some of them were nervous. When they make mistakes, heads down so we are trying to encourage them on the bench."

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Khumalo says she was not worried when they got to the penalty shootout because they had been practicing them during their training sessions.

She was also full of praise for goalkeeper Jessica Williams who saved one of the penalties.

"What we were doing in most of our sessions because we didn't have enough time, we were looking at our setpieces in terms of defensive because we know that these players have physique, they have height so the penalties are also something that we were practising, each and every session,” the coach explained.

“Each and every session we give each player a ball to do that. So, for me, I knew that when we get a penalty, definitely for sure, we are gonna convert it. So the outstanding player for me was Jessica because in this game she was making a lot of errors, rushing but she came out. If a goalkeeper does that, it shows character as well."

Mozambique missed one penalty while Banyana Banyana goalkeeper Jessica Williams saved another.

Isabella Ludwig, Tshegofatso Motlogelwa, Nobahle Mdelwa and Kesha Hendricks converted their penalties to knock Mozambique out of the tournament.

South Africa and Zambia will battle it out for the trophy on Saturday at 3pm at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium.