Bafana Bafana have achieved their first Afcon 2023 objective of 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 Bafana were hugely impressive in the first half.
This prompted Mali captain Hamari Traore to predict that this South African side would reach the knockout stages because they posed problems for his side.
In their second match, Bafana Bafana bounced back with a 4-0 blow-out win over 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 Afcon 2023's scrapheap.
Issa Sy, the Senegalese referee, seemed lenient on the Tunisians who were hellbent on hacking the South Africans out of the game from the opening whistle. Afterwards, Tau commended his teammates for showing so much composure, against Tunisia.
This show of self-control and calmness is a strong trait of the team after three group games. They have gelled as a unit and there is a quiet sense of self-belief, and this characteristic comes across in the press conferences in the past 24 hours.
Spare a thought for the national team coach Hugo Broos who without fail has been kicked in the teeth every time he assembled a Bafana Bafana squad. Usually, the players are run into the ground by the time they report for training camp because the Premier Soccer League (PSL) ensures that fixtures continue so late.
This time PSL ran fixtures right up to New Year's Eve enough though Afcon started on 13 January. Consequently, some players arrived for camp with injuries and did not participate in training sessions or play the warm-up match.
To add insult to injury, Broos could not find suitable opposition and had to settle for lowly Lesotho.
Against this background underdogs South Africa are braced to take on the world's premier Arab football nation Morocco in Tuesday's Round of 16 clash in Ivory Coast.
IOL Sport