The Super Falcons stole a ticket to the 2024 WAFCON finals at the expense of Desiree Ellis’ South Africa
South Africa coach Desiree Ellis believes her team deserved to beat the Super Falcons of Nigeria in the semifinal of the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Super Falcons had to dig deep to etch a win against the Banyana Banyana at Stade Larbi Zaouli in the WAFCON semis.
Going into the game, Nigeria were slight favorites due to their pedigree and ruthless thrashing of Zambia in the quarterfinals.
South Africa were not to be written off though, as they won the last WAFCON, and defeated Nigeria on their way to winning the title.
Nigeria scored in the first half, courtesy of Rasheedat Ajibade from the spot. But the Banyana Banyana equalized through Linda Motlhalo from the spot in the 60th minute.
The game looked destined for extra time, but Michelle Aloze scored the winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time to ensure that Nigeria sealed their place in the final.
South Africa coach Ellis was evidently displeased with her team’s loss, and she insisted that they matched the Super Falcons pound for pound, but they just lacked the cutting edge.
“We had chances and Nigeria had theirs. They scored theirs and that’s really heartbreaking. But we showed today why we were champions. We didn’t play like we were coming off a 120 minutes game, we gave it as good as they gave it,” Ellis said.
“We struggled early on, but we had the better chances after that. We didn’t just take our chances, and that kept Nigeria in the game.
“I’d say Nigeria’s second goal was a freakish goal because everyone missed it, including the goalkeeper.
“Those are chances that you can’t defend. I don’t think if you look at the balance of the Performances we deserved to lose today, but we deserved to lose.”
A look at the statistics of the game show that it was a pretty balanced affair. South Africa edged the possession narrowly with 54 percent. Both teams had nine goal attempts in goal, but Nigeria had more shots on target.
What is next for te Super Falcons?
The Super Falcons of Nigeria will now focus on the final against hosts Morocco, who beat Ghana in the other semifinal via penalty shoot-outs.
Coach Justin Madugu will hope that his ladies are up to the task when they class with Morocco on Saturday, July 26.