Banyana Banyana – a beacon of hope for South African football

Banyana Banyana are heavy favourites to qualify for another Fifa Women’s World Cup ahead of their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal against Tunisia on Thursday night.

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Success for Desiree Ellis’ charges would be another feather in the cap for the women’s team, a feather that blows strongly in contrast to Bafana Bafana’s, which has blown off their cap and into the distance for about 20 years.

A Bafana Bafana XI (let’s be honest, it’s the best way to describe this particular version) were humbled in the Cosafa Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday evening, beaten on penalties by Mozambique. This is a Bafana side that head coach Hugo Broos can’t even be bothered to take charge of, leaving Helman Mkhalele to take up the reins.

To be fair, Broos isn’t the first Bafana coach to hand over Cosafa Cup coaching duties, and this was effectively an under-23 side that took to the field in Durban, only to be beaten via a penalty shoot out.

It could be argued that if it produces quality experience and development for these players, it actually doesn’t matter where they finish in the Cosafa Cup, and they are guaranteed at least one more match, against Madagascar on Friday. But does it? Frankly, it all feels rather pointless, win or lose.

Banyana’s exploits are far more worthy of our attention. Ellis’ side did brilliantly to take down Nigeria in their opening match, which basically smoothed their passage into an easier quarterfinal fixture. Tunisia may have had an emphatic group win over Togo, but lost their other two group matches, and shouldn’t have enough to beat Banyana, even if star striker Thembi Kgatlana is a big miss for the women’s team.

All four WAFCON semifinalists will make it to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup (Morocco and Zambia have already made it), and this would be the second successive qualification for Banyana, having already got there in 2019.

The progress this side has made is all-too clear, unlike the men’s team, who have gone backwards and show little sign of stopping the rot.