The Under-23 face Zimbabwe in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday evening with the match finely poised at 1-1, looking to seal a berth in the 8-Nation tourney scheduled for Senegal.
On the other side of the continent, Banyana are in Kenya where they carry a slender 1-0 lead from the first leg, knowing fans expect nothing short of qualification to the next round when they take on the Harambee Starlets.
The match takes place in the remote town of Machakos on the eastern part of the capital Nairobi and kicks off at 14h30 South African time.
“This is a massive week for South African football and I am confident that come the end of Saturday and Sunday, both the Under-23s and Banyana Banyana will have taken a major stride towards qualifying for Rio 2016,” Under-23 assistant coach Shaun Bartlett says.
“This will almost be unprecedented but expected taking into consideration the effort put into our game by the SAFA leadership and all those involved.”
Bartlett, who led Golden Arrows back into the Premier Soccer League last season, says the two squads were complementing each other in the qualification processes.
“We were in Harare for the first leg when news came that Banyana Banyana had beaten Kenya and that somehow galvanised us into making sure we also come out of Harare with a good result. We will be out to return the favour on Saturday when we meet Zimbabwe first.”