By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Banyana Banyana Qualified for the African Women Cup of Nations (Awcon) in Morocco after they drew 1-1 on the day, but won 3-1 on aggregate against Algeria on Wednesday night.
Koui Sylia found the breakthrough for the Tennecs in the last minute of first half additional time with a well placed header.
Algeria Captain, Naima Bouheni did extremely well to hold off the challenge of two Banyana defenders in the penalty area before lobbing a ball onto the head her teammate, Sylia managed to dodge the efforts of Janine Van Wyk and nodded the ball over goalkeeper Andile Dlamini to give her side a 1-0 lead going into the break.
South Africa, however, still had a 2-1 aggregate advantage.
In the 61st minute, Banyana were given a penalty after an Algerian player handled the ball in the box.
Linda Mothlalo calmly converted from the spot to level up the score at 1-1 and, more importantly, give Banyana a critical away goal.
Banyana seemed to gain a lot of confidence after their equaliser and dictated play for the rest of the half, winning all of their 50/50 battle and dealt with all their aerial duels.
That’s the way it stayed till the full-time whistle as South Africa now will head to Morocco in July for the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations.
Meanwhile Nigeria will defend their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title later this year after defeating Ivory Coast 1-0 in Abidjan to secure their spot at the finals in Morocco.
Elsewhere, Tunisia secured their ticket to the tournament after overcoming two-time champions Equatorial Guinea 7-3 on aggregate despite losing 3-2 in Malabo.
Cameroon won 2-1 in The Gambia to wrap up a 10-1 overall triumph for the three-time runners-up and Botswana, Burkina Faso and Togo will all be making their debuts at the finals.
The Burkinabe beat Guinea-Bissau 1-0 to progress 7-0 on aggregate while Togo won 2-1 in Gabon to go through 4-2 over the two legs.
Botswana qualified on away goals following a 2-0 defeat at home by Zimbabwe, with the Zebras going through courtesy of their 3-1 win in last week’s first leg in Harare.