Johannesburg - Banyana Banyana wrote themselves into the history books as they clinched their first-ever Women's African Cup of Nations (Wafcon) title beating Morocco 2-1 on their own patch at the Prince Moulay Hassan Stadium Stadium on Saturday night.
Coach Desiree Ellis' ladies displayed great resilience on their way to their sixth win in six games at the continental showpiece in Rabat.
IOL Sports' Smiso Msomi looks at five takeaways from the Banyana and Morocco final showdown:
Hildah Magaia etched in history
Magaia saved her best performance of the tournament for the perfect stage to etch her name in the history books. Her two goals not only carried Banyana to their first-ever continental crown, but also made her only the second player in history to score two goals in a Wafcon final.
The 27-year-old was arguably not one of the players expected to produce something special on the night and after a difficult first half, she justified her coach's belief in her, dominating the Moroccan defence to grab her two goals.
Banyana - the definition of character
The mark of a true champion is the ability to navigate through adversity, difficulty and hardship and the South African national women's team certainly left it all on the field in front of a capacity crowd in North Africa.
It appeared as the stage had become too much for Banyana in the first half, exhibiting hints of nerves early on but their character shone through as they weathered the home side's storm, limiting them to no clear cut opportunities before finding their feet.
📹 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: 🇲🇦 1-2 🇿🇦
— #TotalEnergiesWAFCON2022 (@CAFwomen) July 24, 2022
A historic night for #TeamSouthAfrica who beat the hosts to claim their first ever #TotalEnergiesWAFCON title 🏆 #TotalEnergiesWAFCON2022 | #EmpoweringOurGame | @Football2Gether pic.twitter.com/6WJelCCl5v
Coach Des the Genius
Coach Ellis has been phenomenal in her building of this championship winning side. Her personality, experience and understanding of on and off-field management moulded this team into the African champions, but she waited until the biggest game of her career to flex her tactical prowess.
Realising her side were failing to grab a hold of the game, she released Refiloe Jane from her central defensive midfield role into more of an attacking role and those attempts to get Jane closer to Jermaine Seoposenwe paid off as Banyana dominated play higher up on the pitch, as they created numerous goal-scoring opportunities.
Bambanani and Noko
The centre back pairing of Bambanani Mbane and Noko Matlou have been crucial for Banyana the entire tournament, and their stubbornness and good reading of the game kept the Lionesses of Atlas out long enough for Banyana to find their feet.
Both players won their aerial and 50/50 duels on the ground and the woman of the match accolade could've gone to either one of them, if not for the heroic acts of Magaia.
Banyana are the best in Africa
Although they had been showing, over the course of the year, excellent results against the north African teams and beating Nigeria in Nigeria to claim the Aisha Buhari Cup, Banyana needed to claim this particular title to settle all doubts of their dominance of the continent.
Banyana are the best in Africa and they have the medal, T-shirt and cup to show for it.
IOL Sport