South Africa’s Banyana Banyana were crowned the queens of African football after subduing a tough but also tactical Moroccan side to win their maiden Women’s African Cup of Nations (Wafcon) title at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco on Saturday night.
President Cyril Ramaphosa congratulated the newly crowned queens of African football. “Congratulations to @Banyana_Banyana on making history and winning their first ever title at the Women’s Africa Cup of National last night. They promised me that they would bring the trophy home. We cannot wait to welcome you back and thank you for flying the flag,” he tweeted.
The victory comes after five previous attempts at lifting the trophy however the South Africans were denied thrice by Nigeria’s Super Falcons and twice by Equatorial Guinea, starting from the 1995 to the 2018 editions.
“This is for everyone in women’s football that has tirelessly worked towards this goal, we finally did it and it was a good performance. It was our goal, we as a team decided this where we want to be and we want to it for South Africa,” said Banyana striker Jermaine Seoposenwe during her post-match interview.
“It was our goal, we as a team decided this is where we want to be and we wanted it for South Africa. I’m so proud of my team. We love you, we’re so proud to be South African. We’re so proud that we can go out there and make the country proud and put smiles on the faces of the people of South Africa.
“That was our goal when we came to this tournament and we did it. We always play with out hearts on our sleeves. We hope that they are ecstatic and the streets are going crazy right now and we can wait to come home with the cup.”
It was a tightly-contested final but in the end Banyana managed to brush aside the intimidating atmosphere created by the massive home support from the partisan host country’s fans, to emerge 2-1victors.
After a goalless first half, Hildah Magaia put Banyana in the lead when she beat Morocco goalkeeper Khadija Er-Rmichi with a clinical finish in the 63rd minute following some good work on the left flank by hard running Seoposenwe.
Magaia was not done and completed her brace with a tap-in in the 71st minute, again Seoposenwe being the main architect of the goal.
But Morocco fought back and pulled a goal back through Rosella Ayane in the 80th minute but it was a question of too little too late.
It had been years of heartbreak for the South African senior women’s national team after finishing as runners up five times, but the agony evaporated into the Morocco skies after the final whistle.
It was a glorious night for Banyana as Andile Dlamini walked away with the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award at a ceremony held on the pitch moments before the official handover of the trophy to the new champions.
Banyana were also named as the women’s National Team of the Year and Safa president Danny Jordaan was on hand to receive the title from CAF president Patrice Motsepe. – Additional reporting by safa.net
