Brave Bafana still have much to play for at Afcon

BAFANA Bafana have achieved their first Africa Cup of Nations 2024 objective by reaching the Round of 16, after a mixed bag of results in the group stages.

The team came away with bloodied noses from their 2-0 defeat against a strong Mali side, who took full advantage of an early let-off after Percy Tau ballooned his penalty attempt. It was a harsh result after Bafana were hugely impressive in the first half.

This prompted Mali captain Hamari Traore to predict that Bafana would reach the knockout stages because they had given his side a tough time.

In their second match, Bafana bounced back with a 4-0 thumping win against Namibia and the side’s Afcon aspirations were back on track.

In their third match against Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles, Bafana Bafana bravely withstood bucket-loads of intimidation, especially in the first half when the South Africa first-aiders were called on every 15 minutes to attend to injuries. It was a gutless performance by Tunisia and South Africa did well to consign them to the scrapheap.

Issa Sy, the Senegalese referee, seemed lenient on the Tunisians, who were hell-bent on hacking the South Africans out of the game. Afterwards, Tau commended his teammates for showing so much composure.

This show of self-control and calmness has been a strong trait in the team during their three group games. They have gelled as a unit and there is a sense of self-belief, and this came across in the press conferences in the past 24 hours.

Spare a thought for team coach Hugo Broos, who without fail has been kicked in the teeth every time he has assembled a Bafana Bafana squad. Usually, the players are run into the ground by the time they report for training camp because the PSL ensures that fixtures continue so late.

This time PSL ran fixtures right up to New Year's Eve, though Afcon started on January 13. Hence, some players arrived for camp with injuries and could not participate in training.

Also, Broos could not find suitable opposition and had to settle on lowly Lesotho. In spite of all this, SA are set to take on the world’s premier African football nation, Morocco, in tomorrow’s Round of 16 clash in Ivory Coast.