Van Wyk breaks African record as Banyana seal Wafcon spot

Banyana Banyana secured their spot at the Caf Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) after beating Burkina Faso 2-0 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria on Monday to complete a 3-1 aggregate victory in the final round of qualifying.

Banyana and Burkina Faso played to a 1-1 draw in the first leg, played in the Ivory Coast – a neutral venue – before Banyana won the return leg at home.

The victory was vital for Banyana, who will be looking to defend their Wafcon title having won the tournament two years ago for the first time in their history.

Securing the spot for the continental competition was not the only celebration for the South Africans, as the game against Burkina Faso also saw defender Janine van Wyk set the record for the most capped international player on the continent as she marked her 185^th game for Banyana.

Van Wyk, who will be hanging her boots, only played eight minutes before she was replaced by Lebogang Ramalepe.

Burkina Faso, who are ranked 135^th in the Fifa world rankings, gave Banyana a tough game and made the Desiree Ellis’ charges work hard for their victory.

The West African team used their physical superiority to stop many of the Banyana attacks. The home side managed to dictate the play, but things didn’t go well when it came to trying to get a goal.

There was a really good attempt from Jermaine Seoposenwe in the first 10 minutes of the match, but her header went over the bar.

Meanwhile, Burkina Faso didn’t really pose any threat in front of goals, with Banyana keeper Kaylin Swart barely getting any action in the match.

The match went into half time with the score at 0-0 and a lot to play for in the second half.

There was a huge desperation for a goal for the home side, but, Desiree Ellis tried to be as patient as possible, with Thembi Kgatlana upfront being kept quiet by the visitors.

Breakthrough

A promising attack saw Ramalepe being brought down inside the box and the referee called for a penalty, which was eventually slotted intothe back of the net nicely by Linda Motlhalo in the 55^th minute.

Substitute Nicole Michaels sealed the victory with the second of the match after outrunning Burkina Faso defence before slotting the ball nicely into the net.

Next year’s Wafcon finals will be hosted in Morocco for the second successive edition.