Banyana captain Refiloe Jane makes honest WAFCON admission

Banyana Banyana captain Refiloe Jane has made an honest admission regarding their disappointing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 2024 campaign, which saw them fail to defend their title.

Jane has admitted to the team’s failure, expressing the players’ deep disappointment with their fourth-place finish at the WAFCON tournament in Morocco.

The South African Senior Women’s National Team, who were the defending champions, were edged out of third place by Ghana with a 4-3 penalty shootout loss after the two nations drew 1-1 during regulation time last Friday at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco.

This marks the first time in the last three editions of the tournament that Desiree Ellis‘ troops failed to reach the podium, having secured silver in 2018 and gold in 2022.

“Obviously, we are disappointed to be going home empty-handed. Throughout the tournament, it wasn’t an easy one for the players, and there were a lot of challenges on and off the pitch. But we tried to put in a great performance, we tried to do our level best, and we tried to retain the trophy as the main objective,” said Jane, who played all six matches in the tournament.

She added, “But going home now, there’s a lot of work still to be done, and we’re hoping that come the next WAFCON, which is very important, it’s a World Cup qualifying tournament, we hope that we can do well. But firstly, we need to do well in the qualifiers.”

The midfielder also highlighted that the team is currently undergoing a period of transition, with significant changes expected.

“Given the situation within camp, given the players that we had and a lot of transition that was taking place in the team, we’re hoping that a lot of positives can be taken from this tournament and build on that,” Jane explained.

The Banyana Banyana squad is anticipated to arrive back in South Africa on Monday evening.