Thembi Kgatlana scored the important goal to beat Alimata Belem's Burkina Faso to send Banyana Banyana through to the Wafcon quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Banyana Banyana attacker Thembi Kgatlana claims they were never going to give up easily on qualifying for the Wafcon quarter-finals after sealing their fate through a hard-fought victory over Burkina Faso in their final Group B match on Tuesday night.
Banyana beat Burkina Faso – courtesy of Kgatlana’s lone strike – to finish second in Group B with four points, three behind leaders Ivory Coast, who beat Tanzania 2-1 in their final group-stage clash.
The South Africans entered the match under severe pressure. They needed to win and rely on the result in the concurrent fixture to go their way following a sluggish start to the tournament, where they lost to Tanzania and drew with Ivory Coast.
“Sometimes football gives you what you get,” said Kgatlana, who walked away with the Player of the Match award. “As a team, we started very slowly, but we started to get our momentum in the last game. In the history of South African football, we always know how important it is for us to go through.
