Banyana Stage Late Comeback At WAFCON

Banyana Banyana rallied back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Ivory Coast at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations on Friday night.

Fixture: South Africa v Ivory Coast
Score: 2-2
Goalscorers: Kgatlana (71′). Magaia (90+9′) / Sery (18′, 36′)

Desiree Ellis’ charges were eager to kick-start their campaign after suffering a late 2-1 loss to Tanzania on Monday night, while Ivory Coast overcame Burkina Faso in their Group B opener.

Ellis opted to make a change in the goalkeeping department after Monday’s loss, as Kaylin Swart was brought into the starting line-up, with Andile Dlamini dropping to the bench.

However, the South Africans did not get off to a good start when the Ivorians opened the scoring in the 18th minute when a swift counter-attack ended with Grace Sery spotting Swartz off her line and firing into the back of the net from outside the 18-yard area.

It got worse for South Africa after 36 minutes when Ivory Coast doubled their advantage in similar fashion to the first, as Sery managed to breakthrough the Banyana defence with ease before firing past the advancing Swart.

It was a disappointing first half for the South Africans who had no answer to Sery’s first-half brace, with Thembi Kgatlana going closest to getting on the score-sheet just before the interval after she was denied by goalkeeper Aramatou Diakite in a one-on-one situation.

Ellis made a couple changes on the hour mark to improve their chances by throwing on Lebogang Ramalepe and striker Ronnel Donnelly, who was causing the Ivorian defence some problems upon her arrival.

Kgatlana, however, showed no signs of slowing down in the second half as she reduced the deficit in the 71st minute by cutting inside and rifling the ball into the top corner to set up a lively final 20 minutes in Rabat.

South Africa had to wait until the ninth minute of time added on to get the equaliser when Donnelly did well to set up Hildah Magaia, who took the ball in her stride before volleying past Diakite to rescue a point for Banyana.

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