While SAFA president Danny Jordaan believes that Desiree Ellis's charges stand a chance of advancing from their group at the 2023 Women's Soccer World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, he acknowledges that it won't be an easy task.
On Saturday, Banyana Banyana were drawn in Group G with Sweden, Italy and Argentina. Sweden are currently considered the second-best team in the world and are only marginally below defending world champions and leaders, the USA.Meanwhile, Italy are ranked 14th, and while the Argentinians aren't quite as pedigreed as their male counterparts, they're just two spots off their best ranking in 29th.That said, the South Americans - like Banyana in their maiden appearance in 2019 - haven't made it past the group stages before.
Sweden were runners-up in 2003, and Italy reached the quarterfinals twice.Nevertheless, Jordaan had high hopes for South Africa but cautioned that their preparation would need to be spot on. "When you look at the World Cup, it has the 32 best teams in the world, and every group is tough.
But looking at our group, I think we stand a chance, and we have to prepare well now," Jordaan told the SAFA website."We don't have a world champion in our group, so we do stand a chance, but it won't be easy."All African teams, I think, are in extremely strong groups.