South African players are still optimistic about playing at the 2027 FIFA World Cup in Brazil as they look forward to a daunting play-off against Nigeria on Thursday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Banyana Banyana were denied an automatic World Cup ticket by Morocco on Saturday, losing 2-1 to the hosts in Rabat while Nigeria fell 1-0 against Cameroon in Casablanca on Sunday.
The other automatic World Cup spots were also claimed by Cameroon, Algeria and WAFCON debutants Malawi, leaving four other countries to battle for two places in the CAF-organised play-offs before the winners advance to the inter-continental play-offs.
“The goal is still the same,” Karabo Dhlamini told ESPN.
“We’ll try our best to win the play-offs, because we still have a chance to qualify for the World Cup.
“Coming into the game, the team did very well, but that first goal just broke our momentum.
“We’re not feeling happy, we’re disappointed, but it’s not the end of the world. We’re going to lift our heads up and focus on the next goal.
“The focus is to score more goals and win the game.”
Like Nigeria, South Africa struggled to reach top gear at the 2026 WAFCON, falling to Tanzania in their opener before salvaging a draw against Ivory Coast and then beating Burkina Faso to advance.
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“Going into the next game, it’s very important for us to lift our heads up,” Bambanani Mbane told ESPN.
“It’s not over yet. We must do our best, and we will do our best.
“I’m disappointed, but I’m happy for Morocco. It’s part of the game. We did well, we did our best, but unfortunately, things weren’t on our side.”
South Africa will now face the Super Falcons, who lost to Cameroon, at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca on Thursday, with the winner advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs alongside nine other teams.
The mini-tournament, scheduled for November and December, will see three teams claim the final three tickets to the quadrennial competition.
“We’re not out of it,” head coach Desiree Ellis said.
“We didn’t want to go down that route, but it’s been thrown at us.
“We need to get ready for the next game mentally, get ready for it physically, we need to recover quickly.”
Abiodun, who reports Sports for PUNCH, covers different tiers of the Nigerian football league, the national teams, as well as cricket, in the last six years
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Source: The Punch
