Bafana look to seal top spot in Afcon qualifiers

South Africa will look to seal top spot in Group K of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers when they host South Sudan for their final match, set for the Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday night.

Kick-off is at 6pm CAT.

South Africa secured their place at the next Afcon in the previous round of games, with South Sudan’s 3-2 win over Congo last week Thursday handing both Bafana Bafana and Uganda a ticket to Morocco 2025.

South Africa then went on to defeat the Cranes 2-0 in Kampala the following day to leapfrog to the top of the group (courtesy of second-half goals from Thapelo Morena and Patrick Maswanganyi) and guaranteeing that position with a win over South Sudan in the ‘Mother City’ will be their objective on Tuesday evening.

Finishing top of the standings will have the additional benefit of giving Bafana a better seeding for the Afcon group stage draw.

“Let's say we win on Tuesday, we will have 14 points and that’s a lot,” said SA coach Hugo Broos. “There were some games we should have won, especially against Uganda at home [2-2 draw].

“It was important for us to win here in Uganda and go top in the group. Nobody can say we are lucky, like they said after the defeat of Congo by South Sudan during the week. We proved that we don’t need luck and we can win our own games when it matters the most.

“We will have 14 points if we win on Tuesday and we will be deserving of qualification for Afcon.”

South Sudan, meanwhile, will be looking to build on their win over Congo (secured by a brace from Ebon Ezibon and a strike by Data Elly) and are in fact unbeaten in their last three matches, which includes a win and draw against Kenya in African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers in late October and early November.

In head-to-head stats, South Africa and South Sudan have met in just one previous match. Bafana beat the Bright Stars 3-2 in Juba in September earlier in this Afcon qualifier campaign. Oswin Appollis scored a brace in between goals from South Sudan’s Tito Okello and Valentino Yeul, before Thalente Mbatha netted a winner deep in injury time.