We've seen improved play from South Africa today vs. Sweden. If not for an own goal, South Africa would have landed a draw. Zimbabwe played well for most of the match until the gave up 3 goals(one an own goal) in the final 11 minutes. The 3 African countries that played in the 2015 WWC(Nigeria, Cameroon & Ivory Coast) aren't here, though both Nigeria & Cameroon played well in at the World Cup. Add in the typically strong Ghana & Equatorial Guinea gives the CAF some nice depth. In the past it was always Nigeria, Ghana & Equatorial Guinea as the powerhouses from Africa. Now that list has grown. With the growth in women's football in Africa, hopefully increased funding will help these programs grow further. I doubt they'll see an extra qualifying berth for the 2019 WWC, but they're making progress. I hope the first step is to increase the Women's African Cup of Nations final tournament to 12 teams in 2018.
It's nice to see quantity of teams, but I'm not really seeing the quality. Don't get me wrong, South Africa has shown some real development in its ability to defend as a team, but they are far from being able to compete with the top teams in the world. To me it's more of a shame that just as an African team seems to take a step forward, it is often followed by a step backwards.