Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams says that they want to maintain their unbeaten record when they come up against Angola in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group B opening match in Marrakech tonight at 7:00pm.
Going into the match, SA has played 26 matches without a single loss, the longest unbeaten run in Bafana history.
The Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper also explained that the team has continued to improve with each passing day in camp, especially after the arrival of the outstanding players – the European-based Lyle Foster, Shandre Campbell and Yaya Sithole.
“We haven’t lost in two years. We beat Morocco, a big team, so it’s normal that people are looking at us,” he told CAF Media. “But this Afcon is different. The level has gone up a lot, and we must raise our level too. We have to give even more, because nothing will be easy. But we are ready for the challenge.”
Williams added: “The last few days have been good, training has been solid, and you can see that the boys know they are playing at the Afcon. You can see that the quality at training has improved as well. So overall, the last few days have been much better. We’ve looked good as a team, and we know how important it is to get the tournament off to a positive start. We can’t wait to get started tomorrow and we’re looking forward to giving a good account of ourselves.
“Obviously we know that the preparations have been very strange where the European-based players only joined (the camp) a bit later. But once we were complete, you could see the mood was much better, training was much better, the team spirit, everything just got much better as everyone arrived in camp.”
This will be SA and Angola fifth meeting at Afcon finals. Across their previous four meetings, Bafana Bafana have two wins while two other games have been drawn. Bafana and Angola last met at the Afcon in 2013, with hosts South Africa winning 2-0 on match day 2 in Durban, with goals from Siyabonga Sangweni and Lehlohonolo Majoro. They first met in Johannesburg at the 1996 Afcon, South Africa winning 1-0 with Mark Williams scoring the game’s only goal. SA went on to win the tournament on home soil.
In the qualifiers, Bafana defeated South Sudan away and at home, Uganda away and Congo at home. They drew with Uganda at home and Congo away. Teboho Mokoena was their top scorer in the qualifiers with three goals in six games. Broos’ side scored 16 goals in qualifying and conceded five goals, with nine different players scoring for them. Oswin Appollis was their top assist maker with four, he had the joint most assists in the qualifiers. Appollis created 22 chances in the qualifiers more than any other player.
So, in Mokoena and Appollis, Bafana have players that can unlock any watertight defence and create scoring chances. The duo is also able to take the responsibility in their shoulders by scoring goals, as seen at their clubs Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.
