Bafana, Mozambique tune-up for Afcon qualifiers

South Africa and Mozambique will begin tuning up for the resumption of Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next year when they meet in an International on Friendly at Mbombela Stadium on the evening of Thursday 17 November 2022.

Kick-off is at 8.30pm CAT.

Both teams will be looking ahead to the next slate of Afcon qualifiers, with SA set to face Liberia in back-to-back matches in March in Group K, while Mozambique will have the daunting task of facing reigning continental champions Senegal twice in a row in Group L.

Bafana Bafana will be looking to build on their promising outings in the last international break in September, when they recorded 4-0 and 1-0 wins over Sierra Leone and Botswana respectively.

The defeat of the Leone Stars – in which Themba Zwane (two), Mihali Mayambela and Aubrey Modiba shared the goals – was particularly impressive, and perhaps the best performance yet under manager Hugo Broos.

However, the Belgian tactician has been left disappointed by a long injury list which means many players who featured in September will be unavailable for this camp.

“There is a disappointment because we can’t follow the plan," said Broos. " The plan was to play those two matches with the players who were there in September.

"Well, not all of those guys, but at least 75 per cent of them, but when you see the list of injuries at the moment it is not possible."

He added, “I’m happy also because we have a camp in November. I said a few months ago that we needed this camp because there is an enormous gap between September and next year March when we have to play Liberia in the 2023 Afcon qualifiers.

"I am also happy that we have these two games. There are a lot of players who are not here at the camp. Therefore, there is disappointment because the plan was to play and certainly to start with the same team that played against Sierra Leone. With all these injuries it’s not possible.”

The Mambas, meanwhile, have been inactive since July when their ‘A’ team participated in the annual COSAFA Cup and finished fourth. They defeated South Africa (on penalties) in the quarterfinals, before falling to Namibia in the semis and guest side Senegal (on penalties) in the third-place playoff.

In head-to-head stats, SA and Mozambique have met in nine matches (including clashes between ‘A’ teams in the COSAFA Cup) since 1995, with Bafana claiming six wins compared to two for the Mambas (including one via penalties), while one game was drawn.

The teams' last ‘full’ international meeting was a friendly in November 2016 in Maputo which ended 1-1 after goals from Clesio and Bradley Grobler.