July 19, (THEWILL) – At the TotalEnergies 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations on Monday, South Africa’s Banyana Banyana defeated Zambia’s Copper Queens in contentious circumstances to guarantee their place in the final.
Banyana Banyana won the first semi-final of Morocco 2022 in Casablanca and advanced to their second consecutive final of the continental championship after Linda Motlhalo successfully converted a questionable and late penalty.
With the scores goalless after much of the second half had been played, Jermaine Seoposenwe seemed to collide with defender Martha Tembo, who had stood her ground, as shown in replays in slow motion. But, the intervention of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) led to South Africa earning a penalty.
In her initial reaction to the incident, referee Lidya Tafesse first ignored the challenge, believing it to be a fair interception without cause for reaching for hey whistle. She permitted play to continue until VAR intervened and she needed to give the challenge a review. Tafesse had a protracted review on the screen and despite footage suggesting the Zambia defender flicked the ball away before she and the South Africa attacker collided on the edge of the Zambia box, she awarded a perplexing penalty.
Motlhalo scored to give Banyana Banyana a shot at a first AWCON triumph as they reach the final again. They will meet the winner of the second semi-final between Nigeria and hosts Morocco for the final on Saturday in Rabat. In the third-place game, which will take place on Friday in Casablanca, Zambia will face the losers of that second semi-final.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
