Bafana huff and puff for Congo draw

Artificial pitch trips chance for early Afcon ticket

Bafana Bafana missed an opportunity to qualify early for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco next year after playing to a 1-1 draw with Congo Brazzaville in a Group K match at Stade Alphonse Massamba Debat on Tuesday night.

A win for Bafana would have secured SA's passage to Morocco for the final tournament scheduled for  December 25-January 2026.

With two matches to finalise the qualifiers, Hugo Broos's men, who are second in the group with eight points, two behind Uganda who beat South Sudan earlier on Tuesday, have a good chance to qualify.

Bafana came into this match at the back of a 5-0 thumping of Congo on Friday and were looking to complete a double over the central Africans and qualify for the Afcon.

But they faced a different Congo team, who were motivated to avenge that thumping.

Coach Broos made one starting change, bringing in Iqraam Rayners for the injured injured Lyle Foster, who was not selected for this match.

Bafana were playing from deep in the early stages as they looked for a counterattack. The visitors had to wait until just before the half-hour mark to get a clear-cut opportunity after Elias Mokwana went through on goal but his shot narrowly missed the target.

The hosts were playing a high line and were made to pay the price as Mokwana raced through from the middle to break the deadlock to slot home past a diving goalkeeper Trey Vimalin.

Bafana then suffered a blow when star player Themba Zwane was carried off on a stretcher in six minutes before the interval after suffering an injury. He was replaced with Patrick Maswanganyi.

The home side enjoyed a strong spell thereafter and had a goal disallowed moments before their equaliser deep in stoppage time. 

Mons Bassoumina received a through pass beyond Bafana's defense to slot the equaliser and went into the interval with the match in the balance.

It was a good first half for Bafana until the late first stanza equaliser let them down. Congo, smelling blood, continued where they left off in the first half as they looked for a second goal. They caused a lot of problems for the Bafana defence with their speedy and relentless attacks.

Overall, it was all Congo in the second half, perhaps benefitting from the artificial pitch which seemed to be giving Bafana some problems.

In the end, the South Africans had to settle for a draw.

Bafana's next match is away to Uganda on November 11 and eight days later they host South Sudan.      

SowetanLIVE