WAFCON 2024 qualifiers: South Africa, Algeria secure ticket to Morocco

Women’s Africa Cup of Nations reigning champions, South Africa will be in Morocco next year to defend their title.

This after Linda Mothlalo and Nicole Michael secured a 2-0 victory over Burkina Faso in a return leg played at the nation’s capital on Monday afternoon.

The two sides played to a 1-1 draw in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire a few days ago in a match that set up an enticing battle on Monday as the defending champions dug deep to secure their ticket to Morocco next year.

After an evenly balanced first half at Pretoria’s Lucas Moripe Stadium, Motlhalo’s 55th minute strike, followed by Michael’s 63rd minute goal ensured the defending champions book their spot in Africa’s most prestigious national women’s competition next year.

Meanwhile in Burundi, Algeria finished the job away from home with a 1-0 win over the East African nation to make a return to the competition after missing out on the 2022 edition in Morocco.

Going into the clash with a comfortable 5-1 lead at home, the North Africans had a relatively easy return leg against Burundi who had a very tough mountain to climb in reversing the lead.

The visitors’ game plan was to starve Burundi of the ball and they did just that from the onset which yielded results in the 17th minute as Ines Boutaleb found the only goal of the match to seal the two-legged victory and book Algeria a place in Morocco next year.

Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, Morocco 2024 qualifiers continue on Tuesday to determine who will advance to the prestigious women’s national team competition.