By Daily Sports Nigeria on March 14, 2024

Ahead of the final qualifying fixtures for a slot at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Banyana Banyana veteran defender Noko Matlou has sent a strong warning to the Super Falcons, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Matlou believes Banyana will qualify for the women’s football event at the expense of Nigeria.

Both teams will battle it out in the final round of qualifiers, with the first leg scheduled for the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on Friday April 5 followed by the second leg in South Africa four days later.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Matlou is confident that they will make it to the Games after missing out on the last Olympics in Tokyo.

‘’I believe we have a chance to qualify for the Olympics, I do believe we will qualify,’’ Matlou said.

The last time these two nations met in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Group stage clash in 2022, Banyana won 2-1 and the veteran defender believes they will overcome the Falcons again.

‘’We played Nigeria a few times, and we won the last four games we played against them –  favour is on our side, we will do well against Nigeria,’’ added Matlou.

Meanwhile, Banyana coach Desiree Ellis mentioned that it was becoming harder for her to select players for the national team.

‘’A lot of players are growing in each and every game, and that is the most important thing so that the coaches can have a headache when selecting players. We can see the growth of women’s football in South Africa and this will help the national team,’’ she said.

Only five African nations (Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia) have taken part in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament since its inception in 1996.

However, the Falcons failed to qualify for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 editions of the Olympics in London, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo respectively but are desperate to book a place at next year’s event in Paris.

Meanwhile, NFF on Wednesday confirmed that the Confederation of African Football had acceded to a request by the federation to move the first leg encounter between both countries by one hour.

“Concerned by the hot climatic condition in the country at the moment, we wrote to CAF to move the kick-off from 4 pm to 5 pm, in the interest of the players, and they have acceded to our request for the match to commence at 5 pm, at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium,” Ruth David, NFF’s Director of Competitions, told thenff.com.

Also, the South African Football Association has chosen the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria for the return leg on Tuesday, April 9. The encounter will commence at 7.30 pm South Africa time (6.30 pm Nigeria time).

Source Punch Ng

Posted March 14, 2024

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