CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE (1) 1
Bassouamina 45+2
SOUTH AFRICA (1) 1
Mokwana 31’
Bafana Bafana missed out on an opportunity to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 finals with two games to spare after drawing with Congo-Brazzaville in Brazzaville last night. The result at Alphonse Massamba-Debat Stadium meant that Bafana dropped two points.
Bafana didn’t pitch up last night, and were nowhere near as good as their performance in the first leg of this back-to-back qualifier, having won 5-0 in Gqeberha last Friday. Coach Hugo Broos will hope that his troops will seal their qualification in their next qualifier away to the table-topping Uganda early next month.
Failure to do that, and they’ll have to wait for the very last qualifier against South Sudan at home, also next month, to know whether they’ll play in the finals.
Bafana will feel that they let themselves down last night as they didn’t create clear goal scoring opportunities. The synthetic pitch didn’t help their cause either.
Elias Mokwana tried to drag Bafana to north Africa next year, scoring the lead, but that was cancelled out by Mons Bassouamina. Bafana also had a slow start, with the visitors keeping the central defensive pair of Rushwin Dortley and Grant Kekana on their toes.
The duo fought hard to protect goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who was looking for his second successive clean sheet in his 49th appearance for Bafana. Williams nearly jinxed things for himself, though, playing two risky clearances, which the Red Devils’ forwards nearly intercepted and punished in the first half.
Mokwana, on the other hand, was a nuisance for the Red Devils, perhaps proving why Esperance broke the bank to sign him from Babina Noko in winter. Against the run of play, he did well to eliminate his marker before sending through a delightful cut-back to Themba Zwane.
The latter latched onto the pass deliriously before hitting a goal bound shot, only for goalkeeper Ethan Vimalin to produce a stunning save. Mokwana took things into his own hands, thereafter, unleashing a hard and low ball which sailed in front of goals before missing the far post by a whisker.
The 25-year-old wouldn’t be denied his second international goal, bulldozing his way between Congo’s defence before going one-one-one with Vimalin. The goalkeeper looked to have initially saved Mokwana’s first timid shot, but he clumsily dropped the ball to the path of the attacker who pounced into an empty net.
🏆 𝔸𝔽ℂ𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟝 ℚ𝕌𝔸𝕃𝕀𝔽𝕀𝔼ℝ𝕊 🏆
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) October 15, 2024
⚽️ ⒼⓄⒶⓁ: Elias Mokwana gets an opener for Bafana Bafana!
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨 🇨🇬 0⃣➖1⃣ 🇿🇦 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚
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Bafana were unlucky not to go 2-0 up as Dortley’s header was cleared off the line by Loïs Fauriel as Bafana piled on the pressure. Broos had to deal with the loss of Zwane due to an injury in the first half, replacing him with Patrick Maswanganyi who last played for Bafana on debut against Andorra in March.
A few minutes before the break, Bassouamina thought he had equalised for Congo after beating Williams with a bullet shot, but referee Ismail adjudged for an offside. The decision stung for the supporters in the stands as they threw objects onto the pitch, unsettling both Bafana and the officials.
However, what was an aggrieved audience quickly became a happy bunch as Bassouamina got the equaliser beating the offside trap, after Fauriel’s pass behind defence, to slot past Williams.
This was Congo’s second goal this year – hence they’ll be proud of their exploits against Bafana team which hadn’t lost in the last 15 games.
The hosts, with the backing of the buzzing 12th man in the stands, also returned with vigour for the last half, and they were unlucky on two occasions not to grab the lead – and possibly the winner.
But, as Both teams huffed and puffed for the lead it will be Bafana who will be the most disappointed with the result as their search for a ticket to Morocco continues.