‘Strange to exclude Bafana Bafana from AFCON title contenders’ – Senegal coach wary of SA threat

South Africa started their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign with a 2-1 win over Angola on Monday night.

It was Bafana Bafana’s 27th game without defeat for Bafana Bafana across all competitions. While some stakeholders are adamant Hugo Broos’ men can go all the way after winning bronze in 2023, others have tipped Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Algeria as the main contenders.

The 1996 winners have a squad largely made up of local-based players as opposed to the aforementioned teams whose members are mostly come from top leagues in the world.

The Teranga Lions coach Pape Thiaw insists Bafana Bafana can’t be taken off the list of favourites to go all the way in this edition.

Bafana Bafana are one of the strongest teams on the continent

“It is very strange to me that many experts exclude South Africa from the list of title contenders. They play very good football and most of their players come from the same club, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates,” he told First Zeal Media Cast.

“Unfortunately, we tend to focus only on players based in Europe and overlook those playing in Africa. They finished third at the last Nations Cup and they are capable of going far again,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, South Africa coach Hugo Broos is now focused on Egypt after Monday’s victory.

“We tried to avoid that one [losing] because if we should have lost again today and then we have the game against Egypt you are big in trouble. I wasn’t pleased with the game we played in the first half. At just a moment we led 1-0 then we fell asleep, we let Angola come in back in the game.

“So, we put something right during half-time and you see the second half we make more pressure, there is more movement in the team and then we have chances and this is what I want,” the Belgian concluded.