Bafana Bafana’s success at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) has redeemed us, restored hope and confidence among the millions of South African citizens.
Congratulations to the team Z the players and technical staff – on winning a bronze medal in the Ivory Coast. This was a collective effort after two decades of reminiscing about greatness since the last time the national team achieved such a milestone.
This inspires us to emulate achievements celebrated between 1996 and 2000 (gold in 1996, silver in 1998, and bronze in 2000). After the glorious era, South Africa’s national team’s continental dominance disintegrated, amid our domestic professional league, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) Z highly rated, continentally and internationally.
As a nation, we could not fathom an early exit at the 2021 Afcon in Cameroon.
This year it was imperative for Bafana Bafana to strive to surpass the unprecedented success it celebrated all those years ago.
Credit must go to the South African Football Association (Safa) and the federation’s president, Danny Jordaan, for their collaborative efforts in appointing Belgian-born Hugo Broos to revive the fortunes of Bafana Bafana, having won the coveted trophy with Cameroon in 2021.
The coach and his troops attained this with minimal time to prepare thoroughly for the tournament. Given that, we anticipated an early exit from the competition.
Broos often ruffles up some feathers and is sometimes misconstrued for his remarks deemed as controversial in his positive criticism in the media on how football can be improved in our country. His resilience and decisiveness in selecting the players has yielded positive results in our team’s success at this year’s Afcon tournament.
The experience Broos gained from participating in the Olympic games proves significant towards the holistic development of his players.
Credit also goes to the assistant coach, Helman Mkhelele, a 1996 gold medal winner with Bafana Bafana, under the guidance of the late Clive Barker.
In addition to Bafana Bafana’s achievement of winning a bronze medal and the Fair Play accolade, we celebrate Ronwen Williams, who received the goalkeeper of the tournament accolade for his sterling performance.
This recognition was for keeping more clean sheets, five more, than any of his counterparts. Williams made six penalty saves in shootouts against Cape Verde (four) and DR Congo (two), respectively.
Williams’ brilliant saves in penalties set the record for becoming the first time a keeper achieved this feat across all major Fifa competitions.
It is noteworthy to mention that Bafana Bafana midfielder Teboho Mokoena was also a star performer at this year’s tournament, despite not winning an accolade.
Bafana Bafana re-wrote history by becoming the only national team with all 26 selected players born in South Africa, and more than 23 of them playing in the DStv Premiership.
Also, 11 players are with the Mamelodi Sundowns FC. The success of Sundowns in both the CAF Champions League and the newly launched African Football League benefited our national team in the African Cup of Nations.
- Mohau Chabe is a qualified educator.
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