South Africa’s players celebrate defeating Italy and advancing to the knockouts of the Women’s World Cup.
Hagen Hopkins/FIFA/Getty Images
CNN
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The Netherlands and South Africa will face each other on Saturday for a place in the Women’s World Cup quarterfinals, in what will be a historic occasion as Banyana Banyana’s first ever knockout stage match at the World Cup.
It has already been a historic tournament for South Africa as a dramatic winner from captain Thembi Kgatlana in stoppage time secured a 3-2 victory over Italy, her team’s first ever victory at this tournament.
Although the Netherlands will start the match as the favorite, this World Cup has been anything but predictable, filled with upsets and shock results.
How to watch
In the US, the match will air on your local Fox channel, and will kick off at 10 p.m ET on Saturday. You can also stream matches by signing in with your TV provider at foxsports.com or on the Fox Sports app. Telemundo and Peacock are providing Spanish-language coverage.
Seven Network and Optus Sport are broadcasting matches in Australia and the BBC and ITV have the rights in the United Kingdom.
A full breakdown of media rights holders in each country is available on the FIFA website.
A place in the quarterfinals at stake
The two teams last met in April 2022 when the Netherlands defeated South Africa 5-1. But Banyana Banyana came within minutes of drawing against Sweden, another more fancied opponent, in its opening match at this tournament.
“From the beginning of our preparations, we were quite convinced we can beat every opponent in this tournament,” Netherlands coach Andries Jonker told FIFA. “Of course, it helps if you qualify first when the United States is in your group, you win 7-0 and you make wonderful goals … So I think we can rightfully state that we will be able to win against anybody, but we have to make it happen.”
South Africa secured a memorable victory over Italy.
Alessandra Tarantino/AP
The 2019 finalist laid down a marker during the group stages with a comprehensive 7-0 victory over Vietnam, a 1-1 draw against the US and a 1-0 win against Portugal, even without its all-time leading scorer Vivianne Miedema who has missed the tournament after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
Such results propelled the Dutch team to the top of its group, ahead of two-time defending champion USA, just a year after crashing out of the Women’s Euro in the quarterfinals.
“It’s not going to be an easy one, but we’ll fight,” South Africa’s Bambanani Mbane told FIFA. “For us it doesn’t matter who we’re playing now. It’s 90 minutes. We have to push. How badly do we want it?”
The winner will face Spain in the quarterfinals on August 11.