Bafana must step up
• There is room for improvement as SA next face star-studded tournament favourites Morocco
In the end there was no need for calculators or an inquest, it was a straightforward qualification.
Bafana Bafana did enough with an uninspiring goalless draw against former champions Tunisia to finish second in Group E and secure a place in the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast.
In the past, Bafana had on numerous occasions made a pig’s ear, leaving fans to employ calculators to work out how the team was going to progress to the knockout stages.
There were no such issues this time as coach Hugo Broos and his men went to bed on Wednesday night.
But while they have ticked the first important box, Bafana’s progression to the next stage was not emphatic enough as they failed to beat a poorly organised Tunisian side that is one of the disappointments of the tournament.
The harsh reality is that SA will have to significantly up their game as the tournament is going to roll out the big guns in the knockout stages, which start on Saturday. There are those who will argue it doesn’t matter how you get over the line in knockout football, but Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde and Senegal have proved you can win in swaggering style.
The other issue troubling South Africans is that next week Bafana will take on tournament favourites Morocco, who beat Zambia 1-0 in the late match on Wednesday.
Of course, football is not played on paper, but Morocco are growing as the tournament gains momentum and they have world-class players on Achraf Hakimi of PSG, Sofyan Amrabat of Manchester United, Hakim Ziyech of Galatasaray and AzzEddine Ounahi of Marseille.
To beat the Atlas Lions, Bafana must replicate the stunning performance they produced in demolishing Namibia 4-0 last weekend, in which key players Themba Zwane and Percy Tau sparkled.
As they prepare over the coming days at their base in Korhogo, Bafana must remember they once won a crunch match when it mattered most at Afcon in 2019 against Egypt.
At the time, Bafana had one foot on the plane home, but they scraped into the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed finishers and eliminated hosts Egypt with a lone goal from Thembinkosi Lorch.
In Tau, Zwane and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams Broos has players with previous Afcon experience, and their knowledge will be helpful as they look to cause an upset and make it to the quarterfinals.
In the draw with Tunisia, Broos kept the same line-up, including eight players from Mamelodi Sundowns, from the team that thrashed Namibia and indications are he is not going to make changes.
His hand may be forced if defender Khuliso Mudau, who didn’t finish the match with Tunisia and was replaced by Nyiko Mobbie, responds well to treatment in the coming days.
Bafana have been on and off in this tournament, and they are in the knockout stages where there are no second chances.
They will have to turn it on and fight for a performance of the ages against Morocco or face an inquest when they arrive at OR Tambo Airport, as hard-toplease South Africans will only be softened by a semifinal appearance.