South Africa can secure qualification for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals if they beat Congo in a tricky away clash in Brazzaville on Tuesday but go into the game with a strong away record in the competition.
2025 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifer
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) October 13, 2024
⚽️ Congo Brazzaville 🇨🇬 vs 🇿🇦 Bafana Bafana#BafanaPride pic.twitter.com/7yc3gsrFgS
Bafana Bafana’s 5-0 win against the self-same Congolese in Gqeberha on Friday suggests they are heavy favourites, but it will be an altogether different proposition in what is likely to be a hostile Brazzaville on a pitch that will not allow them to play their flowing, attacking style of football.
They have played 33 away ties in the Cup of Nations qualifiers, the previous one a late 3-2 victory over South Sudan following Thalente Mbatha’s 95th-minute winner last month.
They have lost only eight of those games on the road, though three of those have come in the last five games, while they have 13 wins and 12 draws to show for their efforts.
They have also managed to outscore their opponents 45-36 in that time.
Bafana Bafana have landed in Congo Brazzaville and now about to transfer to the hotel#BafanaPride#AfconQualifier pic.twitter.com/RYwLls0rC9
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) October 13, 2024
Bafana lost their first two away qualifiers in Zimbabwe (1-4) and Zambia (0-3), before claiming a first win on the road in Mauritius as they claimed a 3-1 success. Those matches were played in 1992 and 1993.
They did not lose another away qualifier until a 1-0 reversal in Gabon in 1999, and then went unbeaten for another 12 years before a shock 1-0 defeat in Niger in 2011.
They were beaten 3-1 in Mauritania in 2015, and more recently have struggled on the road at times.
They lost to Ghana and Sudan (both by 2-0 scorelines) and 2-1 to Morocco away in the last set of qualifiers.
But when it mattered most and they needed victory to qualify, they claimed a 2-1 victory in Liberia to seal their place at the 2023 finals.
There have been other memorable wins along the way. There was a 2-1 success in Congo in 2001 when Thabo Mngomeni scored an overhead kick that would win the Caf Goal of the Year, and a tough 2-0 success in Burundi when Teboho Mokoena, the original one, scored inside 40 seconds in 2003.
An Aaron Mokoena goal gave Bafana a 1-0 victory over Zambia in 2006, and a 3-0 win in Sudan in 2014 set them on the path to the finals the following year.
Best of all was a 2-0 win over Nigeria in 2017 in which Tokelo Rantie and Percy Tau scored, a game still considered among Bafana’s best-ever away wins.