Lucas Radebe – Bafana Bafana can win the AFCON

Bafana Bafana legend Lucas Radebe, who was part of the side that won South Africa’s only Africa Cup of Nations title in 1996, believes Hugo Broos’ side can match their achievements and win this year’s competition in the Ivory Coast

Radebe has also pointed out the similarities to the current campaign with Bafana’s win some 18 years ago, which came just a few months after the Springboks had won the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Hugo Broos’ Bafana will follow the 2023 Springbok world champions if they can win the AFCON, and they have already surprised many by making the quarterfinals, where they will play Cape Verde in Yamoussoukro on Saturday evening (kick off 10pm SA time).

After finishing as runners-up in Group E, Bafana made a continent sit up and take notice when they beat the number one ranked team on the continent Morocco on Tuesday evening in the last 16.

“I still have my medal from ’96. I have all the memories too. Because it’s the last time we won AFCON and, because as a nation it hasn’t gone well for us in football for a while, it’s still what everyone still talks about,” wrote Radebe this week in a column for the Athletic.

“Rugby has had better times and we joke that when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in 1995, we won AFCON a year later. So maybe the same is about to happen now, after they won it again last October.”

Sundowns strength

Radebe has credited the strong Sundowns core in the Bafana team as a key element in their success. Eight Masandawana players have started Bafana’s last three games.

“Eight of the line-up on Tuesday were players from the Sundowns. The coach, Hugo Broos, was criticised for this a lot,” added Radebe.

“The public asked why he was using so many players from the South Africa leagues, rather than somewhere like Europe. You see now that so many of the players involved in AFCON are with European clubs.

“But for me, I understood what he was trying to do, what the bigger plan was. It was a reason why I felt quite hopeful at this tournament — because so many of the squad know each other from their club.

“This squad doesn’t have everything. For example, we don’t have any really prolific goalscorers. Evidence Makgopa, who scored the first goal against Morocco, isn’t that type of forward, but he battles well and he gives other players, like Themba Zwane and Percy Tau, the chance to do so. The team are committed and they play for each other.”

“Now, into the quarterfinals, you start to hope that this might be our chance. But it will still be tough from here. Even Cape Verde, our next opponents, look very good.”