Salgado calls on Banyana to show why they are Africa’s best

Banyana Banyana midfielder Gabriela Salgado wants South Africa to show why they are African champions when they take on the Super Eagles of Nigeria over two legs in a final qualifying for this year’s Paris Olympic Games.

South Africa will play Nigeria in Abuja tomorrow and at Loftus Stadium on Tuesday, with only the winner making it to Paris.

Banyana won their first ever Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, beating Nigeria in the group stages along the way, and went on to reach the last 16 of the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The Super Falcons are still ranked as the number one side on the continent and it is a little unfortunate that only one of the top two ranked sides in Africa can make it to the Olympics. Banyana are also determined to make up for missing out on the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“It is a massive game,” Salgado told Safa media this week.

“We all now how important the game is to both teams. We want to qualify for the Olympics, we missed the one before. As African champions we need to go out and show our country and everyone that we deserve to qualify for the Olympics.”

“The vibe is good, the energy is good, we all know what we are here for, we are making sure everyone is on the same page and are looking forward to the game. We have worked very hard to get to this stage, we just need to finish it off now.”

‘It will be a real battle’

Banyana goalkeeper Kaylin Swart, meanwhile, is not reading too much into the fact that the 2022 WAFCON result aside, Nigeria have tended to get the better of Banyana over the years.

“We know Nigeria so well, we have played each other so many times over the years,” said Swart.

“They have had the upper hand on us in previous encounters, but we have grown so much as a team, as a nation, and individually. It will be a real battle.

“Nigeria will come at us guns blazing but we have what it takes to grind out a result.”