The way things were going against Namibia, it looked like Bafana Bafana were again going to fail to score any goals at the Africa Cup of Nations.
More than an hour had passed at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo, and it was actually the Brave Warriors who had been the better team up to that point.
Namibia had an effort cleared off the line by Bafana captain Thulani Hlatshwayo, while the likes of Percy Tau and Lebo Mothiba battled to finish off a few half-chances.
It seemed as if Bafana were going to draw a blank, just like they did in the 1-0 defeat to the Ivory Coast on Monday.
But up stepped Tau. The former Mamelodi Sundowns star whipped in a corner from the left, and the unlikely figure of Bongani Zungu was unmarked in the box.
The French-based midfielder didn’t even have to jump as he directed his header into the back of the net, and the celebrations began – Bafana had finally broken their 2019 Afcon duck!
“I’m very happy for the goal, but the most important (thing) is the win. We tried our best to improve from the last game, and I think we played very good football,” Zungu told beIN Sports in an interview aired by SuperSport.
“I think we created chances. But I am grateful for the goal and grateful for the three points.
“It was a corner kick, and one of the players told me to go to the box, and it was a very good delivery from Percy. My position was good.”
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/BafanaBafana?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BafanaBafanarevives their qualification hopes with their win tonight💪
For more..take a look at the highlights of course..😄👇 #TotalAFCON2019 #FootballTogether pic.twitter.com/UKCEmvDaWh
— CAF (@CAF_Online)
But Bafana are not out of the woods yet in order to qualify for the last-16. They might need at least a point in their final group game against Morocco on Monday evening in Cairo (6pm SA time) in order to advance either as the second-placed team, or one of the best third-placed sides.
“It is going to be very difficult against a top team, but we will try to improve from this game. Hopefully the chances that we created and missed in this match, we will score them against Morocco,” Zungu added.
@ashfakmohamed