ON THE MARK: Bafana bring the buzz, but big challenge awaits
There is such a thin line between success and failure in top level sport and South Africa’s footballers successfully negotiated that in reaching the semifinals at the Africa Cup of Nations.
A bronze medal was beyond everyone’s wildest imagination, even Hugo Broos’s despite him claiming he knew the side would do it.
There was much good fortune along the way, notably Achraf Hakimi’s squandered penalty for Morocco in the last-16 tie in San Pedro and the myriads of chances that the Cape Verde Islands missed in the quarterfinal.
But then also some luck that didn’t roll for South Africa, like Percy Tau’s penalty against Mali or the horror miss from Khuliso Mudau right at the end of extra time in a gallant performance against Nigeria in the semifinal.
It will be good to see the celebrations when the team returns from Abidjan on Wednesday and the performance will hopefully provide a much-needed boost for the domestic game.
South Africans have not had much cause to enthuse over their football of late but now there is again a buzz about the team and the state of the game in general.
They are going to need that positive energy in their next major assignment, a World Cup qualifier at home to Nigeria in June.
BUILD A BETTER BENCH
It is the next competitive international for both countries and a crucial game in the qualifying group, where only the winner gets a place at the 2026 finals in North America.
It took Broos a long time to work out who his best players were. Some of the stars of the Ivory Coast expedition like Grant Kekana or Mudau were not even in his squad a few months back.
His initial policy of trying to build a new team with only youngsters was nonsense, even if loudly cheered at the time, and predictably failed. It is an old
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