Bafana Bafana are underdogs for Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group B clash with Egypt in Agadir, but the memory of their 2019 round of 16 upset of the Pharaohs is still fresh in their memory.
Egypt winger Trézéguet played down the significance of that encounter in Thursday’s pre-match press conference and said: “We are not thinking about the past… We are thinking about tomorrow’s match and trying to make our way.”
Of the players who featured that night in Cairo where Bafana won 1-0, only current captain Ronwen Williams is still in the squad. Thembinkosi Lorch, who scored the late winner in Cairo, was a contentious omission, but Hugo Broos has stuck to his guns and cited the abundance of wide players at his disposal.
Broos singled out substitute Tshepang Moremifor praise after his performance off the bench in Monday’s 2-1 win over Angola, while Orlando Pirates teammate Oswin Appollis scored the opening goal.
“We didn’t find our usual game, so we put some things right at halftime, and I think Moremi was also a good service. He played well, he was quick and remained a threat to the Angolan defence,” Broos said post-match.
“That changed a lot. We were also more aggressive and earned some chances.”
The Belgian head coach has several selection dilemmas. Who to start out wide is one, while he will also have to put thought into his centre-back pairing.
New Chicago Fire signing Mbekezeli Mbokazi put in a strong shift and hit the crossbar with a stinging long-range drive. However, despite the presence of the taller Siyabonga Ngezana (who plays his club football for Romania’s FCSB), Bafana struggled to deal with set pieces.
They are not the only team with problems to solve ahead of this game. Egypt beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in their opening fixture on Monday, with Liverpoolstar Mo Salah scoring a stoppage-time winner after Omar Marmoush equalised.
It was a far from polished performance from the Pharaohs against the biggest underdogs in Group B.
Bafana kept Salah quiet in Cairo six and a half years ago with an inferior team on paper to Hugo Broos’ current group. Salah is also not quite the force he was then, but he remains the player most likely to hurt Bafana.
Mamelodi Sundowns’ Aubrey Modiba had an excellent game at left-back against Angola, but is stronger going forward than defending against wingers of Salah’s calibre.
Key details:
Date: Friday, Dec. 26 at 17:00 CAT (16:00 Moroccan time, 15:00 GMT)
Venue: Stade Adrar, Agadir
How to watch: The match will be televised on SuperSport and SABC 2 for South African viewers. Channel 4 holds the UK broadcast rights for the tournament.
Team News
Left-back Mohamed Hamdy and striker Mostafa Mohamed are injury doubts for Egypt.
South Africa are expected to have a clean bill of health, although Mamelodi Sundowns attacking midfielder Themba Zwane’s persistent injury troubles probably led, directly or otherwise, to him being omitted from Broos’ squad.
Expected lineups
Egypt
GK Mohamed El Shenawy
LB Ahmed Fatouh | CB Yasser Ibrahim | CB Hossam Abdelmaguid | RB Mohamed Hany
CM Marwan Attia | CM Hamdy Fathy
LW Trézéguet | AM Emam Ashour | RW Mo Salah
ST Omar Marmoush
South Africa
GK Ronwen Williams
LB Aubrey Modiba | CB Mbekezeli Mbokazi | CB Siyabonga Ngezana | RB Khuliso Mudau
CM Teboho Mokoena | CM Sphephelo ‘Yaya’ Sithole
LW Oswin Appollis | AM Sipho Mbule | RW Tshepang Moremi
ST Lyle Foster
Stats:
Mohamed Salah has scored 8 AFCON goals for Egypt, which is four away from Hassan El-Shazly’s Egyptian record.
South Africa’s only defeat in a match overseen by Hugo Broos since the last AFCON tournament was the loss by forfeit to Lesotho in World Cup qualifying in March. This was a win overturned due to Teboho Mokoena having been fielded despite being suspended for the game.
The last time Bafana faced Egypt at AFCON, Ronwen Williams made three saves. Two were off shots from Trézéguet, while Salah had no shots on target.
Egypt have won two of their three fixtures against South Africa at past AFCON tournaments, triumphing in 1996 and 1998 before their 2019 defeat.
