With the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Round of 16 fixtures all almost confirmed, Bafana Bafana will have an idea of who they will face once matchday three wraps up on Wednesday night.
The entire Group F will be in action, with Equatorial Guinea taking on Algeria, Sudan up against Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, with Cameroon set to collide with Mozambique.
Bafana will face either the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, or Southern African rivals Mozambique in the last 16.
Performance not at its best
South Africa secured a place in the knockout stages of the Afcon after finishing number two on Group B with six points, one point behind leaders Egypt. Coach Hugo Broos’ side has not been at its best, but managed to grind out results and move further in the competition.
Despite that feat, especially given that his side finished the previous Afcon as the third-best team, Broos says he expects more from his side going into the knockout stages.
“I am not happy with the performance and the way some players are acting on the pitch. This is something we must work on. It was there from the beginning of the tournament,” Broos said after their hard-fought, yet unconvincing 3-2 win over Zimbabwe on Monday.
“We must know that the progression we have made over the past two to three years does not mean you will come to the pitch and win the game. I said it before the tournament. This is going to be tougher than the one in the Ivory Coast,” he added.
Ivory Coast, who are the defending champions after winning the previous Afcon on home soil, are currently on top with four points, level with Cameroon. Mozambique, on the other hand, is third with three points. And it currently qualifies as one of the third-best teams.
Costly school boy errors
So, against top teams such as Cameroon, who have shown their strength so far in the tournament, or the defending champions, Ivory Coast, Broos’ charges will have to be disciplined at the back and avoid costly schoolboy errors.
Since the start of the competition, Bafana has conceded in every game, conceding a total of four goals.
Bafana’s potential opponents may themselves not have scored a lot of goals. But they know their way around the box and are able to shut the back door.
The first round of the knockout stages will get underway on Saturday. With Bafana set to be in action on Sunday at 9pm (SA Time).
