Banyana Banyan vice-captain Refiloe Jane has called on South Africans to get behind the squad ahead of the their AWCON quarter-final clash.
South Africa is set to take on Tunisia in the quarter-finals of the 2022 African Women's Cup of Nations (AWCON) currently underway in Morocco and midfielder Refiloe Jane says the support form back home could help spur them forward.
"We urge South Africans to rally behind the team as we look to make the country proud," Jane told snl24.com/kickoff.
"Knowing that we have support back home will be a big boost and motivation for the squad."
Banyana breezed through the group stages with a 100% win record following a 2-1 win against defending champions Nigeria, a 3-1 win over Burundi and narrow 1-0 victory over Botswana to finish top of the competition's Group C.
Tunisia, meanwhile, has found going tough in Group B, having hammered Togo 4-1 in the opening match before falling 1-0 to Zambia and 2-0 to Cameroon respectively.
Teenager Nthabiseng Majiya was Banyana's hero against Botswana when she came on with just under 30 minutes to play and scored the winning goal. The 18-year-old might be called into action once more after an injury after an injury forced striker Thembi Kgatlana out of the competition.
A win tonight will book Banyana's seat in the semi-finals of the continental showpiece, and perhaps more significantly, an automatic qualification into next year's Australia-New Zealand Women's World Cup. Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis highlighted this as the primary goal for the team.
"As a coach, you want to win every competition you participate in and we believe we can. When we get that semi-final spot then we can focus on going on to win it, but for us now the priority is qualifying for the World Cup," Ellis told snl24.com/kickoff earlier this month.
Match kick-off is scheduled for 22:00 (South African time).