{"id":52258,"date":"2023-12-07T14:17:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T12:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/?p=52258"},"modified":"2023-12-07T14:17:36","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T12:17:36","slug":"is-bafana-bafana-finally-enroute-to-success-after-qualifying-for-afcon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/football\/is-bafana-bafana-finally-enroute-to-success-after-qualifying-for-afcon\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Bafana Bafana Finally Enroute To Success After Qualifying for AFCON"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was an epic moment when Bafana lifted the AFCON trophy in 1996; although it was called the CAF Coca Cola African Cup of Nations at the time. The name and sponsorship have changed, but our hope that Bafana Bafana will go far has not changed. And now that they have officially qualified for AFCON 2024 , we cannot quiet that whisper of hope at lifting the trophy. The fact that the South African Women’s team are the current AFCON champions has made us believe it is possible even more.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Road To Qualifying<\/b><\/h2>\n

The road to qualifying has not been without its fair share of troubles. Bafana Bafana has failed to qualify for five consecutive AFCON tournaments ( 2010,2012,2017,2021). They secured their qualification this time though by beating Liberia 2-1 in an intense game that tested Broos\u2019 boys. Hugo Broos team selection was heavily criticised ahead of the game, but his risk-taking paid off when Lepasa scored the opening goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the team is to advance in the 2024 tournament in the Ivory Coast, Broos will have to stick to his guns when it comes to team selection. For those considering making a\u00a0 <\/span>sports bet<\/b><\/a> on the tournament, it is important to remember that the team is not playing a consistent game. The team’s 2-1 win over Morocco being a highlight that put them top of a group which contained just three teams because <\/span>of Zimbabwe’s suspension<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Winning The AFCON<\/b><\/h2>\n

Broos now must focus on picking a winning team and ensuring they play together as much as possible. They must be fluid on the field and in sync with each other’s movements. There is also hope for a number of up and coming talented young players grown in the nation. However it might be a little too early for some of the <\/span>young Bafana<\/span><\/a> this time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Broos’s current attacking lineup is solid, and their performance in the last two games shows he has a winning formula. Percy Tau and Khuliso Mudau are very in sync on the field, showing that both experience and energy have a place in a team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team has a solid defence too with Maela, Sibisi and Mosele, but they need to be more consistent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are less than two months before the AFCON tournament starts, which doesn’t give Hugo Broos much time to implement any significant changes. Cohesion and consistency have proven to be a winning formula thus far. However, as pointed out by Springboks <\/span>coach Jake White,<\/span><\/a> you also need to be adaptable, something Bafana may struggle with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Teams\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Morocco, who made it to the FIFA World Cup semi-finals, are tipped as the favourites for this AFCON. Their AFCON track record may be shady, having won the title only in 1976; their best performance after that was in 2004 when they were runners-up. They played brilliant football against South Africa despite their 2 -1 loss. They will be out for revenge if they face South Africa during the tournament too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nigeria are at the top of their group and have also qualified comfortably for the tournament. The Super Eagles are formidable, with many players currently playing in Europe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time of print, Cameroon and Ghana have yet to qualify, and there are great expectations from these previous winners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Predictions<\/b><\/h3>\n

It isn’t easy to make predictions when the tournament hasn’t started yet, but Bafana Bafana should be able to make it to the quarter-finals and perhaps further should things go their way. However, anything is possible in sport, especially football.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly<\/b><\/h2>\n

Winning AFCON 2024 would be a remarkable repeat of the historic 1996 tournament, where <\/span>Bafana won<\/span><\/a>. Having already qualified for AFCON, Bafana have got off to a somewhat shaky start to their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. The loss to Rwanda was shocking and unexpected, but they still have plenty of time to recover and qualify for the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was an epic moment when Bafana lifted the AFCON trophy in 1996; although it was called the CAF Coca Cola African Cup of Nations at the time. The name and sponsorship have changed, but our hope that Bafana Bafana will go far has not changed. And now that they have officially qualified for AFCON […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}