Banyana Banyana head coach Dr Desiree Ellis says her charges are well aware of what’s at stake ahead of this evening’s must-win WAFCON 2026 final Group B clash against Burkina Faso.
The 2022 WAFCON champions are sitting rock bottom with just a single point after they rallied back from two goals to earn a credible 2-2 draw against Ivory Coast in their previous encounter. This is after they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Tanzania in the tournament opener.
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The position leaves South Africa under pressure to pick up maximum points in order to stand a chance of progression into the knockout stages.
Though she knows her charges have a huge task ahead against the tricky Burkinabes, Ellis maintains that they have prepared well in order to go for the kill from the get go.
“Burkina Faso are not here by fluke, but we have to focus on ourselves,” she said as per safa.net.
“We have to control play from the first whistle – we can only control what we can control. We have prepared well and we will be ready to give the best we can, we know what is at stake. It is probably the final for us, if we don’t get the result we require, it’s the end of the road.
“We have been in similar positions before, and I believe we have players with enough experience to get us over the line.
“Yes, there will be pressure, but we have never doubted ourselves and we can draw inspirations from the fact that we have done it before.”
The clash gets underway at Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca with kick-off at 22:00.
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