No issues to sidetrack Bafana

It is a relief that the South African Football Association and Bafana Bafana’s players have reached an agreement on bonuses before the Africa Cup of Nations finals kick off in the Ivory Coast this weekend.

Bonus rows can become unsavoury affairs, and one hopes now that everyone involved can now focus on the on-field action, starting with Bafana’s clash with Mali on 16 January.

Safa have not revealed much about the agreement, only that Bafana’s players will recieve the full R130 million or so in prize money if they win the Afcon.

The association’s president Danny Jordaan also said they would receive nothing if they lose, which presumably means they will only get absolutely nothing if they lose all three group games.

It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to theorise a structured payment scheme that sees the players received more and more cash, peaking at that R130 million.

There is little chance, if we are honest, of Bafana going all the way in the Ivory Coast.

After all, they have not got past the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations in over 20 years. Hugo Broos won the tournament with Cameroon in 2017 in Gabon, but that certainly doesn’t mean he will do it again with Bafana.

There have been the usual array of previews ahead of the Afcon in the Ivory Coast, which starts on Saturday, and not one, to my eye, has placed Bafana among the favourites, for good reason.

Agence France Presse, the respected press agency, listed their 10 picks that were “most likely” to win the continental competition, and completely unsurprisingly, Bafana were not there.

Bafana could get to the knockout rounds, and even repeat what they did in 2019, and reach the quarterfinals. In a 24-team tournament, where 16 teams reach the knockout rounds, the odds are stacked in favour of most teams to get past the group stages.

And then it takes just one shock, as Bafana managed against hosts Egypt in 2019, to get to the quarterfinals. The chances of repeating shock after shock, however, is minimal.

Bafana Bafana’s players may well be confident they can shock Africa and go all the way and why not? After all, what is the point, in some sense, in taking part in a competition if you don’t have a sliver of belief you can win it.

The major surprise at the Afcon finals in the last 20 years did come completely out of the blue, when Zambia won the competition in 2012.

A far safer bet, however, would be on one of the North African or West African powerhouses.

Morocco have to be outright favourites, on the back of their run all the way to the semifinals of the Qatar World Cup at the end of 2022.

But Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana and the Ivory Coast will all also feel they have the players to take the continental crown.

It should be a thrilling tournament, and hopefully Bafana Bafana can do the nation proud, even if they don’t win it all.