Banyana Banyana have to negotiate their way past a tricky group in their search of their maiden African title. They’ve been grouped with the hosts Cameroon, Egypt and Zimbabwe for the tournament that runs from November 19 – December 3. They’ll be in familiar territory in Cameroon where they played two friendlies with them, winning one and drawing the other.
The Southern Africa derby between Banyana and Zimbabwe will be an interesting and a tough duel between the two nations who represented Africa in the Olympics in Brazil. Banyana fared better because they returned with a point against the hosts. Zimbabwe lost all their three games, conceding 15 goals. But they have Banyana’s number as they have an edge over them.
“Zimbabwe will be a tough side to overcome as they are still fit and strong after all the experience gained at the Olympics,” Banyana captain Janine van Wyk said. “Although they lost by a margin of goals, they showed tremendous character to score goals, which is something we lacked. They are very direct and will come out strong to show what they have learnt in Rio. Egypt on the other hand is a very unpredictable team. We haven’t played them many times but what we do know is that all these teams are all working extremely hard to get ready for this upcoming event.”
Group A: Cameroon, Egypt, Banyana Banyana and Zimbabwe
Group B: Nigeria, Mali, Ghana and Kenya
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Independent Media