Egypt and South Africa will go face-to-face in a match that the former Pharaohs assistant coach Roger de Sa believes will be the biggest game at the tournament so far. De Sa, a South African and former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, is currently the assistant coach of the Oman national team in the Middle East.
He worked as Carlos Queiroz’s assistant when they coached the star-studded Portugal at the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. Queiroz once again recruited De Sa to lead Egypt three years ago. The two coaches, who were both born in Mozambique, led Egypt to the final of the 2021 Afcon, where they lost to Senegal via penalty kicks. So, De Sa knows the Egyptians like the back of his hand.
The humdinger encounter will take place at the Le Grand Stadium in Agadir on Friday night, which happens to be Boxing Day. Both countries opened their Group B campaigns with 2–1 victories, defeating Zimbabwe and Angola, respectively, and this will be their fourth meeting at Afcon finals, having previously clashed in 1996, 1998 and 2019.
Of their previous Afcon meetings, Egypt has two wins and South Africa one. Their last Afcon meeting in 2019 saw South Africa eliminate hosts Egypt in Cairo, with a 1-0 win in the Round of 16 with Thembinkosi Lorch scoring the game winner for Bafana in the 85th minute.
Current Egypt squad members Mohamed Salah, Hassan Trezeguet and Mohamed El Shenawy featured when the Pharaohs lost to Bafana. Ronwen Williams was in goals for South Africa.
Said the former Orlando Pirates coach ahead of Friday’s match: “It’s definitely the biggest one so far. It’s an interesting game because both teams won their opening matches, and they will not want to lose this one. The two are the favourites in the group, and you will see that they will want to win, keep the six points, and get qualification for the knockout round. It could be the biggest match so far, they are two giants. Egypt has a fantastic front three in Salah, Trezeguet and Omar Marmoush, the best front three on the continent.
“They also have a top-notch midfield where they have a lot of options, and they can really surprise Bafana. Both teams will want to get six points so that they can be able to rest players in the last group matches. But Bafana have what it takes to win, especially at a neutral venue like Morocco – they did it in Cairo in front of a hostile, capacity crowd in 2019 and they can do it again. Coach Hugo Broos has brought back the confidence of the players, and they now believe in themselves,” added De Sa.
“But having said that, the two teams may be cautious, because if they get a draw, they have one foot in the next round, and that may take the spark out of the game — but nevertheless it is a top cruncher,” De Sa explained further.
