Bafana dumped out of Afcon

Bafana Bafana have been eliminated from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) after a 2-1 last 16 defeat to businesslike Cameroon in Rabat on Sunday night.

South Africa, who finished third in the previous tournament in Ivory Coast early in 2024, were made to pay for failing to take advantage of their early dominance where they wasted three glorious opportunities in the opening 10 minutes.

Bafana settled first, troubling Cameroon with their quick-passing game but Lyle Foster, Relebohile Mofokeng and Samukele Kabini failed to find the target from good scoring positions.

The result sees the Indomitable Lions march on to the quarterfinals where they meet hosts Morocco in Rabat on Friday in what promises to be a thrilling spectacle given how both teams have played so far.

For Bafana and coach Hugo Broos, their underwhelming performances in this tournament will serve as a timely reminder on how brutal tournament football can be.

The four matches also exposed some of Bafana’s limitations, especially in defence where they conceded too many goals and on Sunday night were terrorrised by forward pair Christian Kofane of Bayer Leverkusen and Bryan Mbeumo of Manchester United.

Teboho Mokoena went down just after the match started after Cameroon captain Tolo Nouchou stamped on his toes in what appeared a ploy to rough the Bafana midfielder up.

Kenyan referee Peter Kamaku gave South Africa advantage from a dead ball and Foster nearly scored with a close-range header from the resultant free-kick by Oswin Appollis.

South Africa came into the match on the back of underwhelming performances in the group stages and coach Hugo Broos rang four changes from the team that beat Zimbabwe 2-1 on Monday, but they did not have any effect on the last 16 clash.

Broos interestingly chose Kabini ahead of Aubrey Modiba at left wingback. This proved a bad decision as Kabini had a torrid evening in the office with some poor decision-making.

Broos started with Siyabonga Ngezana, Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Nkosinathi Sibisi as part of a three-man defence with Kabini and Khuliso Mudau as wingbacks.

The most interesting aspect of the coach’s changes was to introduce Mofokeng with the exciting and skillful Orlando Pirates attacker given his first Afcon start to help the team with its creative spark, but after a bright start he found the going tough.

In the heart of the midfield, Mokoena and Bathusi Aubaas were reunited as part of a ‘double ten’ with a three-man attack of Mofokeng on the left, Appollis on the right and Foster as the lone striker.

Cameroon struggled to get into the game in the early exchanges and their cause was not helped after 21 minutes, when injured defender Darling Ngameni was replaced by Aboubakar Mahamaou.

Despite the early forced change, the Indomitable Lions went ahead in the 34th minute when defender Junior Tchamadeu put the ball past Williams after South Africa failed to adequately clear a corner.

Cameroon increased their lead 47th when Kofane got to a cross between Sibisi and Ngezana in the box and produced a header that flew past Williams.

Bafana made a double substitution just after the hour mark when Aubrey Modiba and Evidence Makgopa came on for Kabini and Appollis but Cameroon were on the ascendency.

Bafana stayed in the game in the closing stages and Mokoena was denied by Cameroon goalkeeper Devis Epassy from a free-kick just outside the box.

The South Africans finally got on the scoresheet in the 88th, when substitute attacker Makgopa tapped home in the box but it proved a scant consolation as they exited the tournament.

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