Yesterday the defending champions, Banyana, returned to winning ways with a 3-1 win over Mozambique at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Bafana will play in the semi-finals on Thursday after and their opponent will be decided this after at the conclusion of the Group C games.

South Africa will face the highest placed runner-up.

Bayana coach, Desiree Ellis, lauded her team’s resilience and character but believes there is still work to be done.

“We started very well and we could have been 2-0 up in the early stages of the game. We had some great chances.

“When we scored, we almost took our foot off the pedal and that is when you need to take control of the game and make sure that you play to your tempo and make the opponents play at your tempo.

“We knew that Mozambique was going to come at us, we have seen their games and they don’t give up. We were talking on the bench that we needed that second goal but then we defended poorly to concede and it was back to chasing the game.

“We were not worried about what was happening in the other game between Angola and Malawi, we just knew that we had to win our game and the team showed great resilience, character and mental strength that is second to none.

“A lot of them come from the Buhari Cup and most are being challenged, mentally and physically but I think everyone that played today, stood up.

“We will have our recovery session tomorrow to prepare and we will know who will be our semi-final opponents. We have got to be better going into the semi-finals because there is no room for error there.”

Banyana will have to wait until Tuesday afternoon for the conclusion of the Group C match to see who they will face in the semi-finals. The other confirmed semi-finalist is Tanzania.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport