Afrigather South Africa goalkeeper Kaylin Swart believes that enjoying the primary leg of their 2024 Olympics qualifiers towards the Tremendous Falcons in Nigeria could be a bonus for them, Soccernet.ng experiences.
Nigeria and South Africa will sq. off within the remaining spherical of the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifiers subsequent week. Just a few years in the past, it could doubtless have been a stroll within the park for Nigeria, however South African soccer has improved lately, and so they pose a giant risk to the Tremendous Falcons.
In actual fact, regardless of Nigeria’s high quality on paper, each side appear evenly matched going into the tie.
In the meantime, South Africa have already opened camp of their nation forward of the sport, with coach Desiree Ellis calling up 29 gamers. They play the primary leg on the Moshood Abiola Stadium on April 1, then journey to South Africa for the second leg eight days later.
Forward of the fixture, Banyana Banyana goalkeeper Swart has been speaking powerful, as she believes that her aspect can nick one thing towards the Tremendous Falcons. She feels that enjoying the second leg in South Africa could be an added benefit for them.
“It’s all the time greatest to play away first, so I believe we’ve got a bonus towards Nigeria as nicely. The final couple of qualifiers towards DR Congo and Tanzania it wasn’t simple, however we managed to get a few objectives away, and we got here again residence with confidence. Enjoying away first alleviates stress,” Swart stated per Sowetan Live.
“The ooze and chants from the away followers are usually not the very best, however I believe we will use that as a gasoline to beat. Sure, it’s going to be powerful. Nigeria have a giant following; they pack stadiums after they play at residence, however we’re up for the problem and the hostility we’re going to face.”
In the meantime, she is unfazed on the prospect of going through the Tremendous Falcons in Nigeria contained in the 60,000-capacity Godswill Akpabio stadium.
“We’re fairly skilled sufficient to take care of that [hostile atmosphere]… we’ve performed in Morocco towards Morocco in entrance of virtually 80,000 followers [in fact, the venue’s capacity is 53,000], who have been towards us, however we nonetheless prevailed,” Swart noted.
Coach Randy Waldrum has to get a victory for the Tremendous Falcons, as they haven’t performed on the Olympic video games since 2006. A win in Nigeria would ease some stress going into the second leg in South Africa.
