By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Banyana Banyana suffered a 5-0 defeat to Japan in their first 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), preparation friendly at the Yanmar Stadium Nagai on Saturday morning.
The friendly match is being used to prepare for the WAFCON, to be held in Morocco from July 26 to August 16.
South Africa is drawn in Group B with the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania.
The Japan women’s national football team (Nadeshiko Japan) is currently ranked 5th in the world, making them the highest-ranked team in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The home side broke the deadlock just two minutes through Kiko Seike. The forward capitalised on hesitant defending to give the hosts the perfect start before doubling her tally in the 18th minute as the visitors found themselves under sustained pressure.
Japan got their third strike in the 29th minute as Bayern Munich midfielder Momoko Tinakawa’s rocket found its way past Andile Dlamini.
Manchester City’s Aoba Fujino made it 4-0 just moments after the restart of the second half.
With 30 minutes to go, a good interchange between Manaka Matsukubo and Fujino ended with the latter getting his second of the day.
Banyana Banyana will be looking to come back stronger when they face the same side at J-Green Sakai in the second encounter on Tuesday, 9 June at 15h30 local time (08h30 SA Time).