South Africa defeated Zambia 1-0 on Monday in Casablanca to go to the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final thanks to a contentious late penalty conversion by Linda Motlhalo.
Following the intervention of the video assistant referee, Banyana Banyana were given the penalty kick because Jermaine Seoposenwe seemed to collide with defender Martha Tembo, who had stood her ground.
Play was signaled to continue by referee Lidya Tafesse, but at the next stop in the game, the VAR persuaded her to change her mind about what appeared to be a soft award.
After missing from 12 yards earlier in the game against Burundi, Motlhalo hammered the penalty attempt low into the net for Banyana, who are now waiting to find out if they will play Nigeria or the tournament host Morocco on Saturday.
Although they defeated the Super Falcons in the group rounds, they fell to the West Africans in the 2018 final, one of their five losses in the continental championship game. They haven’t yet found any gold.
Zambia will now strive for the consolation of the bronze medal after they failed to win a game they dominated for huge stretches, notably the first half.
Within the first ten minutes, Ochumba Lubandji had a great opportunity to score, but she missed the goal with just goalkeeper Andile Dlamini to beat.
The most likely team to score was Zambia, and their skipper Grace Chanda hit a shot directly at Dlamini before missing a low cross minutes later.
Thembi Kgatlana’s injury prevented Banyana from using his speed as an outlet up front, and when they did have the ball, they failed to get it past the Copper Queens’ defense because of Zambia’s stacked defense.
They attempted to target Banyana on the break with evident purpose, which undoubtedly caused some concern.
It was against the grain of play when Tafesse gave South Africa a penalty for a clear foul on Noxolo Cesane, but this time the VAR changed the ruling to a free kick since the initial touch occurred outside the penalty area. It was a reasonable decision.
Seoposenwe attempted the set-piece, but the ball was diverted wide and Zambia was no longer in danger.
Then, Cesane set up a beautiful cross for substitute Hildah Magaia, but the Banyana narrowly missed catching it and instead crashed into goalie Catherine Musonda.
While Dlamini was beat, Chanda fired another shot wide, and at the other end, Musonda produced an incredible save to save Magaia from scoring.
However, Banyana received a stroke of luck from the referees late in the game when Motlhalo converted her penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
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