South Africa stunned Nigeria 2-1 in Casablanca on Thursday to clinch a place in the Inter-Confederation qualifiers for next year's FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil.
South Africa lost their Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) quarter-final 2-1 to Morocco and Nigeria lost theirs 1-0 to Cameroon, meaning that the loser of this game would be ruled out of contention for World Cup qualifying. As it turned out, the Super Falcons miss out for the first time in their history, while Banyana Banyana keep their hopes alive.
The top two teams out of six in the preliminary round will qualify for the final round alongside four teams given a bye. At that point, the winners of each of the three ties will advance to the World Cup.
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Ghana beat Ivory Coast 2-1 in the earlier kick-off to book their spot in the Inter-Confederation Playoffs preliminary round.
