FIFA Women’s World Cup: Analysing Banyana Banyana’s 3 Group Stage Opponents

• Banyana Banyana will face Sweden, Italy, and Argentina in Group G at the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup
• Sweden are ranked third in the world and have lethal striker, Sofia Jakobsson, who always poses a goalscoring threat
• Argentina were once unranked, but have now qualified for back-to-back FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments

Banyana Banyana have touched down in New Zealand ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, hoping to represent Africa in a big way.

The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions have been drawn in Group G alongside some tough opposition.

Sports Brief analyses who the South African side will be playing and when.

Sweden:

Undoubtedly the most formidable challenge Banyana will face is from Sweden.

The Swedes are ranked third in the world heading into the tournament and finished third in the 2019 edition of the World Cup.

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The European side also boasts having a lethal striker in Sofia Jakobsson, who knows her way around goal.

Banyana and Sweden will clash on July 23 at 7 AM South African time.

Argentina:

In their second game of the tournament, South Africa will face Argentina.

While the men’s side are world champions and ranked number one in the world, the women’s side are only ranked 28th.

The side are truly one of the miracles of football. After failing to qualify for the 2015 edition of the tournament, Argentina weren’t interested in having a women’s side and didn’t want to fund them.

FIFA even listed them as unranked due to their inactivity, as noted by The Guardian. Now ranked in the top 30, they have qualified for back-to-back tournaments.

Banyana and Argentina will meet on July 28 at 2 AM South African time.

Italy:

Banyana’s final group game of the tournament comes against Italy.

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The women’s team are ranked 16th in the world, according to the latest FIFA rankings.

Italy made it to the quarter-final of the last tournament but were beaten by the Netherlands. The Italian side has been preparing for their African opponents by taking on Morocco. Morocco were Banyana’s opponent in the WAFCON final.

Banyana and Italy will clash on August 2 at 9 AM.