Banyana Banyana assistant coach Thinasonke Mbuli says her side is expecting a tough outing against DR Congo in the 1st leg of their 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Wednesday evening at Stade Des Martyrs.
The 2nd leg of the qualifiers is scheduled for FNB Stadium next Tuesday with Banyana needing to win the tie not only to qualify for the continental spectacle, but to also give themselves a shot at qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. The semi-finalists from the WAFCON in Morocco will qualify directly for the World Cup. The last time Banyana met with Congo was during the 2024 Paris Olympic games qualifiers where the former African champions won 3-1 on aggregate.
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Mbuli told the media in DRC how much Banyana want to qualify for the WAFCON and how their hosts had a good preparation for this tie at the previous WAFCON.
“Obviously we know it’s going to be tough,” said Mbuli.
“They are playing a home match in front of the home crowd. But as you’re saying, it’s a qualifier for WAFCON. Obviously, the plan is to go back to WAFCON and the only way we can go back to WAFCON is to jump this hurdle, which is DR Congo and then qualify for WAFCON.
“I think we are the same. We also lost our last game, fourth and third place to Ghana. But maybe advantage to them is that they were in a tough group. I think they had good matches preparing to come and play for this one. I think they were in the same group with Morocco, the same group with Zambia, which are two strong African teams. So, they might have not gone through to the knockout stages, but at least they got good preparation matches for the qualifier.
Mbuli also admitted the importance of DRC-based Kgalebane Mohlakoana in her team saying the TP Mazembe midfielder has helped with the analysis of the opposition.
“She has been around. I think this is her second season playing for Mazembe,” added the University of Western Cape head coach.
“So, she knows everything about this country. She knows maybe some of her teammates that are playing for the national team.
“So yes, she was very key for us in terms of helping us analysing some of their individual players.”
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