Stage: Semi-final 2
Match: South Africa vs Mali
Venue: Cape Coast Stadium
Referee: Jonesia Rukyaa KABAKAMA (Tanzania)
Kickoff: 18:30 GMT
Will Mali shock South Africa to reach their first Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final and win for the first time, a ticket to the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2019? Or South Africa will make the popular vote stand by thrashing semifinals debutants Mali?
South Africa are marginal favourites, at least according to popular votes, to win the semifinal game against Mali at Cape Coast Stadium on Tuesday. And perhaps win the tournament for the first time. That prediction is barely due to their impressive 1-0 win over Nigeria and the unmatched freewill to score as they did so well in a 7-1 victory against Equatorial Guinea.
Coach Mohamed Saloum Houssein’s side have produced somewhat impressive results in a 2-1 win over hosts Ghana and gruesomely fighting back twice to beat Algeria 3-2 in the final group game to steal a last-four slot. With that in mind, Coach Desiree Ellis will be extra careful approaching this game, not to be more relaxed as Ghana’s Bashir Hayford.
Les Aiglonnes, after shipping in five goals in their three group games, have to score full marks in defense against Banyana Banyana who netted an average of three (nine in total) at the group stage – South Africa conceded two goals across the 270 minutes outings at the group stage and finished the group as the best defensive side – only bettered by Nigeria with ten goals scored and one conceded.
Mali will need to make history to upset the odds and reach a first Women’s Afcon final – that won’t happen without a fight from South Africa.
Key Players: Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana vs Bassira Touré
Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana, 22, is already running away with the top gong – with four goals and three player of the match awards – the Houston Dash forward has already established a strong claim to the individual awards. She comes up against a relatively accommodating defense and might even up her chances within another 90 minutes.
She was introduced from the bench against Nigeria in the tournament opener and grabbed her first goal with a stupendous volley at an acute position to snatch all points. Her dribbles and accurate runs into oppositions’ half, very commendable.
Bassira Touré has shown little, compared to Thembi Kgatlana, but for her own standards, Coach Saloum Houssein will vest much in her to produce that trademark performance she put up in the 2-1 win against the Black Queens.
Toure, 28, has scored two goals in this tournament, both goals against Ghana’s Black Queens. She has to replicate same performance in Tuesday’s all-important game.
Team News
Fortunately for both managers, there’s a full house to choose from on Tuesday evening at the Cape Coast Stadium.
No suspension and injury to worry about for both managers, but certain players; Yakare Niakata and Salimata Diarra of Mali, with bookings, will have to be extra careful in sliding into tackles not to miss the next bronze place or final game.
Managers’ Thoughts
South Africa’s Coach Desiree Ellis needs a lot of improvement from her players if there’s any chance to beat Mali on Tuesday. She contends Mali is not just a mean side, adding for the fact that they kicked out hosts Ghana means it will be a tough game.
“Our performance will need a lot of improvement. We put that game behind us and now focus on the next games. The semi-finals against Mali is an all final and our thoughts are going to be the same. We are not underestimating any team.
“They (Mali) are not as mean. They kicked out of the hosts Ghana who are a competitive side and that tells a lot about their quality.
“We have to analyze them really well and the most important thing is that we stick to our plan. We have to perform same way we did against Nigeria to realize our goal and that’s to qualify for the World Cup.”
“Each and every player was on top of the game from the beginning to the end. It is going to take that type of performance and make sure we don’t underrate the Malians”.
Coach Mohamed Saloum Houssein is debating the notion that South Africa are favorites on paper with the possibilities of playing football within ninety minutes.
“We know what it means to be in the semi-finals of the tournament. Statistics will definitely say South Africa are better than Mali but football is played within ninety minutes. Until it is over you can’t declare a winner. We did our best even though playing against Ghana wasn’t easy but once more I thank God for guiding us to this stage.
Again Mohamed Saloum quipped that surely his players are going to work hard and that there’s huge chance of beating South Africa:
“Hard work really pays and hope is always guaranteed. It has never been easy as I keep say mentioning and everything team have their strength and weakness. We have been able to map up strategies that have gotten us to this level.
“There are individual capabilities but then team work kept us going. We identified so many mistakes but team work enabled us to correct them swiftly. Our tactics and strategies are always aim at victory”.
