Banyana eye progress as Nigeria hope to bounce back

Heavyweight contenders South Africa and Nigeria had a crunch opener at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations against each other but now likely have easier assignments in their second group game at the tournament on Thursday.

Banyana Banyana, who upset Nigerians with a 2-1 defeat on Monday to lay down an early marker, will be up against Burundi in the first of Thursday’s Group C games at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdallah in Rabat.

The Super Falcons take on Botswana after that but must do without their top player Asisat Oshola, who was injured on Monday and will play no further part in the tournament.

The 27-year-old Oshola, who is a four-time African Footballer of the Year winner, has suffered an MCL knee strain, according to the Nigerian Football Federation.

It is a major blow for them, although likely not to be immediately apparent as they have an opportunity to get their campaign back on track against Botswana.

Although Botswana beat Burundi 4-2 in their opening game on Monday and scored some spectacular goals in the process, the Super Falcons are an all-together much tougher proposition.

That was Botswana’s first-ever game at Wafcon and an impressive victory but they now face a backlash.

Nigeria’s American coach Randy Waldrum said; “Despite the loss, we are still positive in camp. It is the first game of the tournament so we have to go back and regroup. We have to increase our urgency in the fighting spirit because we are encouraged by it. We have to play the way we played in the last 10-15 minutes so that we get going.”

South Africa is in high spirits after their win and the game against Burundi has the potential to be a real mismatch but also could see them go in with too casual an approach, which could then backfire