CASABLANCA, Morocco — South Africa find themselves at a crossroads as they prepare for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) third-place playoff against Ghana in Casablanca on Friday, with the brooding sense that the page is turning on the finest chapter in the country’s women’s footballing history.
Under head coach Desiree Ellis, who took the reins in 2016, this generation of Banyana Banyana players have become the most successful the Rainbow Nation has known. But talk of transition is intensifying with some of the key figures in this cycle absent or stepping away from the side, new faces arriving on the scene, and Ellis’s future uncertain.
“At the moment I’m just focusing on the [playoff],” Ellis told ESPN, refusing to confirm whether she will extend her stay with the national side. “But when we go back, I’ll go home, take a break, sit down, and look at the way forward.
“Obviously, the ambition was to get to the final and go back-to-back, so It’s a bit of a disappointment, but we still have a game to play, and we can leave on a high note, with our heads held high.”
Ellis has broken new ground with this team.
They qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2019, and reached the round of 16 in 2023, a year after they’d clinched a first WAFCON title.
Runners-up on four occasions between 1995 and 2012, South Africa often featured in the latter stages of the Nations Cup yet repeatedly struggled to get over the line.
That has steadily changed under Ellis; they were defeated finalists against Nigeria in 2018 before winning six out of six matches in 2022 — including victory over Morocco in the final in Rabat.
This year’s run to the semifinals was all the more impressive given the absence of Thembi Kgatlana, the team’s talisman, for personal reasons, while veterans Noko Matlou and Mpumi Nyandeni have called time on their international careers.
Forward Jermaine Seoposenwe announced before the tournament that she would not be continuing with Banyana Banyana beyond Morocco.
This has allowed Ellis to start blooding the next generation of talent, with the likes of Fikile Magama, Noxolo Cesane, Sibulele Holweni and Karabo Dhlamini — all in their early 20s — enjoying prominent roles in Morocco, while Ronnel Donnelly scored in the 4-0 group-stage thumping of Mali.
“We’ve refreshed the squad a lot,” Ellis said.
“[The younger players have] experience going forward, some have gone to the World Cup, and some of them latch onto [the veterans] and try to extract as much as they can from them. They’re carrying the baton forward, as Jermaine has done, and we’re looking forward to the next couple of months to see how they grow and develop.
“We’ve taken a squad to see how they grow forward, and we’ve done it consistently, challenging, bringing in players, trying to make them learn and be mentored by senior players
“The younger players have transitioned, but they have to step up, they can’t fall back on Jermaine [after the tournament], and need to step up.”
Seoposenwe is optimistic that the future is bright for Banyana Banyana, and that Ellis has laid a strong groundwork for success in the future.
The younger heads, for their part, appear keen to take on the mantle of shaping their future before too long.
“Ronnel has come to me to extracting knowledge,” Seoposenwe said. “I’m not a No. 9, but in this tournament I’ve been playing as one, which is her position, and she’s asked me about playing there.
“I appreciate that she sees me as a role model. In a weird way, it’s interesting seeing young players coming up, stepping up to the plate, taking the torch and running with it.
“Playing for Banyana’s not the easiest thing; there’s a lot of pressure, but they’ve shown they’re able to do it, stay true to who they are, work hard, and stay disciplined.”
Colin Udoh and Cristina Alexander discuss which teams in the WAFCON deserve to be in the final.
While there may be uncertainty over South Africa’s longer-term future, there are no doubts about Ellis’s intentions on Friday, when Seoposenwe’s final game and the severe injury sustained by forward Gabriela Salgado in the semifinal against Nigeria give extra weight to a fixture neither Banyana Banyana nor Ghana wanted to be involved in.
“We wanted to go to the final, but we didn’t,” Ellis said. “So now we all want to do it for Gabby, also for Jermaine, just to give her a better send off and to go home with a medal.
“It’s not what we wanted, but it shows the courage and resilience of this team, with all they’ve gone through, to come back [after Salgado’s injury].
“We know what’s at stake, but we’re not just doing it for ourselves, but for our families, our country, the support back home. We have one more game, and hopefully we can get the bronze.”