The similarities between the Super Falcons and Banyana Banyana

The hearts of the fans in Nigeria and South Africa will swell with pride when they see their teams walk out onto the field for their Round of 16 matches at the FIFA Women’s World Cup (every game streams live on Showmax Pro, courtesy of SuperSport) and there have been quite a few similarities to how both teams have got there.

With Banyana Banyana playing Netherlands on Sunday, 6 August 2023, before the Super Falcons face England on Monday, 7 August 2023, here’s a look at what they have in common.

Both qualified with classic comeback wins

If any of the African teams were underestimated by their opponents at the start of the tournament, Nigeria and South Africa have both certainly shown that they can’t be taken lightly with dramatic victories in the group stage.

Nigeria were the first of the two to book their Round of 16 seat with their defining game coming against host Australia. Despite going behind in front of some raucous home support in Brisbane, they thrillingly scored three unanswered goals before the co-hosts grabbed a consolation.

The Super Falcons followed that up with their second clean sheet of the tournament against Republic of Ireland, which was all they needed to go through.

South Africa have already made history by winning their first ever World Cup game against Italy (who are ranked 39 places ahead of them). After squandering leads in their other two group games, they made up for those results by recovering from a goal down to eventually beat the Europeans with a memorable goal in injury time.

Both have players that could break the African scoring record

No African player has scored more than three goals in FIFA Women’s World Cups. Asisat Oshoala and Thembi Kgatlana are two players who have done it and now both have a chance to get ahead of the rest.

Oshoala went into this tournament on the back of a very successful season at Barcelona and her winner against Australia meant that she became the first African player to score in three different World Cup tournaments.

Kgatlana lit up the 2019 tournament with an incredible opening goal against Spain and has now followed it up with two in this edition including the historic injury-time strike against Italy.

Both players have shown the ability and temperament to perform on the biggest stage and there are no better examples of growth in the African women’s game.

Both teams have stars in attack as well as defence

It’s not just Oshoala and Kgatlana that have got their teams to the knockouts. There have been standout performances at both ends of the pitch for the teams.

For Nigeria, Chiamaka Nnadozie has had a remarkable tournament in goal that’s included two clean sheets and a penalty save against Canada to keep the team unbeaten. Osinachi Ohale has also been a pillar of strength in defence and even popped up to score a crucial goal against Australia.

For South Africa, Hildah Magaia has followed up being the joint top scorer at last year’s WAFCON with two goals at this tournament. At the back, Bambanani Mbane has been a wall in defence with an outstanding game against Italy in particular.

With so many players putting their hands up, team spirit is clearly sky high in both camps.

Both sides have scores to settle with their opponents

England and Netherlands have both got the better of African opponents recently and will now have to deal with teams that are keen to knock them off their perch.

England’s only previous Women’s World Cup meeting with Nigeria was in 1995 that ended in a dramatic 3-2 win for the Lionesses. They also faced African opponents at the round of 16 stage four years ago when they ended Cameroon’s hopes with a 3-0 win.

Netherlands were the finalists at the last edition in France and the last time they played South Africa was in May last year. That game ended in a 5-1 win for the Orange Lionesses that was an eye-opener for Banyana Banyana.

These two European teams come with enormous pedigree, but the Africans will certainly relish their underdog tags.

Both could be the first nation to win a knockout match

There have been occasions where African sides have made it past the group stage of the Women’s World Cup, but none of them have picked up a win in the knockouts.

This will be the third time that Nigeria have gone past the group stage, having been knocked out by Brazil in 1999 and by Germany 20 years after that.

Cameroon are the only other African nation to have got that far. They lost in the Round of 16 against China in 2015 before falling short against England four years ago.

In their second FIFA Women’s World Cup, South Africa will become the continent’s third ever representative at this stage of the tournament.

Could history be made in Australia? With both games available live on Showmax Pro (along with all the other games of the tournament, courtesy of SuperSport), you could be in a prime position to witness it.

Why Showmax Pro?

Showmax Pro is a streaming service available for Showmax subscribers in Africa that bundles the Showmax entertainment offering with music channels, news and live sports streaming from SuperSport.

Subscribers can live stream the latest seasons of the English Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, UEFA Europa and UEFA Conference leagues, as well as FIFA World Cup qualifiers, every game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and more. Subscribers in selected regions can stream the UEFA Champions League.

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