WAFCON Finals: Bayana Bayana prepared for Morocco test - Desiree Ellis

Banyana Banyana have faced Brazil at the Maracana before at the Olympics and are confident their experience will ensure they won't be intimidated by a passionate capacity Moroccan crowd in the TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final.

This was the assurance from South Africa coach Desiree Ellis, ahead of the massive TotalEnergies WAFCON 2022 finale on Saturday at the cauldron of Rabat’s Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex.

“We have played in front of full stadiums before. In 2015, we played against Equatorial Guinea in the Olympic Games qualifiers and won. We played Brazil at the Olympic Games in the largest stadium in the world, the Maracana. So we have been in this situation before and we have played well. We are not worried about that. I know it won't be an easy game, the fans will be there in huge numbers, but we have to do what we have to do. We have to stay focused and make sure we don't concede and we have to be clinical in front of goal,” Ellis said in her pre-match press conference on the eve of the final.

“Morocco is not in the final by chance. A lot has been done in the country for the development of women's football. They have a professional championship, they brought back a coach who won the UEFA Champions League. Morocco has a very good team and we have analyzed them well. Now it is up to us to execute what we have planned. If we apply what we have prepared, we will have a positive result,” said a business-like Ellis.

South Africa’s captain, AC Milan midfielder Refiloe Jane, has only one goal in mind for the final.

“When you know the history of women's football in South Africa, you know the number of times our country was on the verge of winning the title. We want to do it for all the people who have helped in the development of women's football in our country and for all its daughters who will one day want to wear the jersey of the national team. We want to make the South African people happy,” said Jane.