Lebohang Ramalepe has urged her South Africa teammates to show mental toughness ahead of their crucial FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification clash against Nigeria’s Super Falcons.

Desiree Ellis’ side missed out on automatic qualification after suffering a disappointing 2-1 defeat to hosts Morocco in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The Super Falcons also saw their hopes of securing an automatic ticket dashed following a 1-0 defeat to Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses in their quarter-final encounter.

Banyana Banyana must now overcome their perennial rivals to secure a place in the inter-confederation playoffs and keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive.

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Ahead of the decisive encounter, Ramalepe rallied her teammates to demonstrate greater mental resilience against the Super Falcons.

“What is required is mental toughness. As a team, we just need to ask ourselves: ‘what is it that we want?”Ramalepe told ESPN.

“If we go into the next match with the mentality of ‘all is lost’…no, we still have a chance, all is not lost.

“We just need to stay focused, be mentally sharp and take it as a final match.”

Thursday’s encounter is scheduled to take place at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca, with kick-off set for 9pm Nigerian time.

By Adeboye Amosu