WAFCON: South Africa must be ‘on top of our game’ against Senegal – Ellis

Photo Credit - CAF Women’s Football

South Africa women’s national team coach Dr Desiree Ellis has cautioned her side to be ready for a tough battle when they take on Senegal in the quarterfinals of the 2024 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) on Saturday.

Having qualified as Group C winners with seven points, South Africa will come up against a Senegalese side, who finished third in Group A with three points.

“We have a couple of days to have a good look at them, but they’ve shown in a very difficult group that they can fight it out with the best and we have to be at our absolute best to get a result because again it’s not going to be easy. I don’t think any game has been easy at this WAFCON, it shows that teams on the continent are improving – every FIFA International window there are countries playing,” Dr Ellis told SAFA Media.

“This WAFCON is not just a one-sided tournament where you can predict an outcome. The games are so tight and it’s one moment of magic or one moment of madness or even a mistake by someone and then that’s it.

“This shows how tight the games are, so we have to be on top of our game against Senegal. They showed against Zambia and Morocco where they had very tight games but tonight was a statement and showed what we can do, and we’ve got to do even better.”

The African Champions will face Senegal at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda, Morocco. In other quarter-final matchups, Mali will travel to Rabat to face hosts Morocco on Friday, and on the same day in Casablanca, Nigeria will be up against Zambia.