Use of the term ‘group of death’ is very cliched these days, but there is no doubt South Africa will have their work cut out at January’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Ivory Coast.
They were drawn on Thursday night alongside Tunisia, Mali and Namibia, who are by no means formidable foes but certainly competent teams with the ability to deny Bafana Bafana progress to the knockout stage.
Most of the groups for the 24-team tournament have two strong sides, and then another two at an inferior level, and there is a clear pecking order that makes predicting who will advance from the groups, and into the last 16, a relatively easy process. Certainly, on paper, that is.
The groups are set. ✅#TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 is now ready to kick off in January! 🇨🇮⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Xxanb9FDzp
— CAF (@CAF_Online) October 12, 2023
But in Group E, which is to be based in the northern town of Korghobo, matters are far from clear and it is going to take some effort from South Africa if they are to finish in the top two and progress, or perhaps, as they did in their last appearance at the finals in Egypt in 2019, scrape through as one of the best third placed finishers.
On that occasion it was a win over Namibia which ensured their advancement after losing their other two opening round group matches to Morocco and the Ivorians.
Namibia, even though they held Bafana in last month’s friendly at the Orlando Stadium, are again the obvious target for the easiest three points but South Africa will have to pull out the stops to get more … not that Mali nor Tunisia are unbeatable.
Both are in the upper bracket of the African game but, by no means, serial winners.
Tunisia are, however, serial qualifiers, this being their 16th finals in row, which is a Cup of Nations record. They were also at the World Cup last year, exiting in the first round but not before a passionate win over France that showed their capabilities.
They qualified for the 2022 World Cup at the expense of Mali, beating them in a two-legged payoff where there was only one score – a bizarre own goal from Mali that handed Tunisia a 1-0 aggregate win.
Mali have their problems with infra structure and a federation in near-constant turmoil but plenty of fine players, almost exclusively in Europe. On their day, they are capable of beating any side.
South Africa are not in a mortal situation but this draw was not particularly kind.
Coach Hugo Broos shares his thoughts post the #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 draw which took place last night. #BafanaPride pic.twitter.com/Gs5NzIXhRU
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) October 13, 2023