Rusike Cautions Bafana About Being Over Confident At AFCON

South Africa during the 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifier match. Photo: Gallo Images / Richard Huggard

Former Zimbabwe international Matthew Rusike has cautioned Bafana Bafana about being over-confident ahead of their Group B campaign in the Africa Cup of Nations.

After finishing third in the previous edition of the AFCON, there are high hopes that Bafana enter the tournament as one of the favourites to go to the latter stages of the competition.

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Hugo Broos’ charges will open their group campaign against Angola on Monday, 22 December, face Egypt on Friday, 26 December and will complete their section against Zimbabwe on 29 December.

The Warriors, on paper, could be considered the lesser opposition in the group. However, after the Southern African neighbors gave South Africa a scare in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Rusike believes it’s going to be tough for everyone in the group to progress to the next stage.

“AFCON is a difficult tournament for any team. I think South Africa want to believe that they are group favorites but in the eyes of me and in the eyes of a lot of people they are not,” Rusike said, speaking to the Siya crew.

“I think the reality is, the tournament is in North Africa, Egypt has a great squad as well. South Africa have been doing well of late and did well at the last AFCON but it’s not (going) to be as easy for them to just get out of the group.

“Zimbabwe, it won’t be easy, Angola, of course. These are difficult games. We saw Bafana were not able to beat Zimbabwe recently. So in football the ball can go either way,” the former Kaizer Chiefs striker said.

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“So I think every team stands a chance of getting out of that group but I think the Egyptians are the favourites and I will support my Zimbabwean team. It is not as simple as it seems,” Rusike added.

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