Thank you, Bafana Bafana!

It was an exciting 2023 Afcon in Ivory Coast, where we saw good football on display, great goals and passionate supporters who travelled to support their respective countries. I think there is so much that one can pick up from this tournament in terms of growing as a coach and someone who wants to make a mark in football. We saw a lot of unpredictable results and I would like to believe that Africa has made a lot of people eat humble pie with the way this tournament was organised and how it turned out to be one of the best football events in the world. This tournament also proved that there are no more minnows in football when you consider how some of the continent’s big guns were eliminated and couldn’t even make the Last 16. These are teams with a huge reputation and have big-name players plying their trade in Europe, but they were humbled by so-called no-name players. The SADC region must also be proud because they were represented with pride. For South Africa to go all the way and finish third is unbelievable. They were 90 minutes away from reaching the final, only to succumb to Nigeria on penalties in the semi-finals. I must congratulate Cote d’Ivoire for winning the trophy, and they proved that it is not how you start but how you finish that is important. Just like us, they didn’t enjoy a good start to the tournament and almost didn’t make it out of the group stage, only to go all the way to finish as eventual champions. This tournament was full of surprises and left a lot of people shocked and mesmerised. The game was the winner, and what a wonderful tournament it proved to be!