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Banyana prepared for ‘hostile’ Abuja fans
The Banyana In order to use the anticipated hostile environment in Nigeria as 'fuel' for securing qualifying for the Olympics, Banyana custodian Kaylin Swart believes it is advantageous for them to play Nigeria away in the final round of qualifiers.
On Friday, Banyana plays the Super Falcons in Abuja; four days later, Banyana hosts them at Loftus Versfeld Stadium. Given that the two keepers have been splitting time recently and that Andile Dlamini was removed from the team for "medical reasons," Swart is expected to start against Nigeria.
We should always play away from home, so I believe we have an edge over Nigeria as well. It wasn't easy in the past two qualifiers against Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but we managed to score a few goals and returned home with confidence. According to Swart, it relieves pressure to play away initially.
"I think we can utilise the shouts and chants from the away fans as fire to triumph, even though they are not the best. Yes, things will get difficult. Although Nigeria has a sizable fan base and sells out stadiums when they play at home, we are ready for the task and the opposition we will encounter.
The Banyana custodian is hoping that the team's experience against the Super Falcons in front of their supporters will be helpful. The team defeated hosts Morocco in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations final in July 2022 at the sold-out Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
"We have adequate experience to handle that difficult environment. We played against Morocco in front of about 80,000 fans—the stadium can hold 53,000 people—who were not in favour of us, but we won anyhow, according to Swart.