South Africa may have kept their FIFA Women's World Cup hopes alive by defeating Nigeria, but Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis has acknowledged she is still getting to grips with the unusually complicated qualification route that still stands between South Africa and Brazil next year.
South Africa and Ghana advanced from the Women's Africa Cup of Nations 'play-in' matches this month after losing their quarterfinals, beating Ivory Coast and the Super Falcons respectively to advance to the play-off tournament.
However, they still have a gauntlet to run in order to advance, and must negotiate two separate play-off phases between November and February in order to reach the tournament.
"I'm not quite sure about the format," Ellis told ESPN. "I've been reading [and am] a little bit confused, but I made sure that I understand it.
"The rules here were a bit confusing, but I called people that I knew who knew these things to make sure that I understand, to be able to give the information.
"I'm not sure if it's two groups, because it's six teams. You have Ecuador, you have Papua New Guinea, you have Chinese Taipei, you have Uzbekistan, obviously have Ghana.
"I'm doing my homework. I know [the teams], and ourselves. We'll see how it goes. We'll be drawn from there."
How does the play-off format work?
On August 20, the six teams set to participate in the Preliminary phase -- the teams named above by Ellis -- will be drawn into two groups of three, with teams from the same confederation not able to play each other.
Pot One contains Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan, South Africa are in Pot Two with Papua New Guinea, and Ghana are with Ecuador in Pot Three.
It means that Banyana Banyana already know they will face Ecuador, while Ghana will definitely face Papua New Guinea.
The results of each team's two matches will then be combined in one overall six-team group, with the two top teams overall -- not necessarily from the same group -- advancing.
It means that both South Africa and Ghana could still be alive following the November and December qualifiers, which will be staged in a centralised location.
However, this isn't the end of the journey, with the two top sides advancing to another mini tournament - taking place between February 23 and March 6 where they will join the four sides that received byes through the preliminary phase.
Venezuela will already represent CONMEBOL, and they will be joined by one UEFA qualifier and two CONCACAF representatives.
These six will then be drawn into three separate match-ups, with a one-off knockout game set to decide which three teams will take the final trio of tickets for the World Cup.
What do Banyana and Ghana need to do to qualify?
Beyond the somewhat convoluted format on paper, the scenario required to qualify -- for South Africa and Ghana, anyway -- is actually fairly straightforward.
They need to finish in the top two of the six-team preliminary competition later this year, likely with a minimum of four points from their two matches, before winning their one-off knockout game in February and March.
"We'll wait, obviously, until the fixtures come out, and then we can play," Ellis concluded.
"We have another opportunity to go forward with our World Cup objective. We're still in it."
Banyana are looking to qualify for their third consecutive World Cup, having reached the knockouts in their second attempt in 2023, while Ghana are aiming to end their two-decade wait for participation at the global showpiece.
The Black Queens qualified for three consecutive tournaments - between 1999 and 2007 - but have not returned to the competition since.
Women's World Cup: Which teams will be representing Africa?
The quartet winning WAFCON quarterfinalists -- Morocco, Malawi, Cameroon and Algeria -- secured Africa's four guaranteed tickets, after dispatching South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast respectively.
Should South Africa and Ghana both qualify, Africa will have an unprecedented six spots at the competition -- a 50-percent increase on 2023.
