Bafana Bafana have been eliminated from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) after a 2-1 last 16 defeat to businesslike Cameroon in Rabat on Sunday night. South Africa, who finished third in the previous tournament in Ivory Coast early in 2024, were made to pay for failing to take advantage of their early dominance where they wasted three glorious opportunities in the opening 10 minutes. Bafana settled first, troubling Cameroon with their quick-passing game but Lyle Foster, Relebohile Mofokeng and Samukele Kabini failed to find the target from good scoring positions.
The result sees the Indomitable Lions march on to the quarterfinals where they meet hosts Morocco in Rabat on Friday in what promises to be a thrilling spectacle given how both teams have played so far. 🏆 𝔸𝔽ℂ𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟝 🏆🗣️ “𝙒𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨”🎙️ Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos reacting to their loss against Cameroon.🇿🇦 1⃣➖2⃣ 🇨🇲🚨 LIVE📺 SABC 2🌐https://t.co/26PdrPrnVE#SABCSportFootball#TotalEnergiesAFCON2025#ItsGameOnEverywherepic.twitter.com/unt0T0wY4j For Bafana and coach Hugo Broos, their underwhelming performances in this tournament will serve as a timely reminder on how brutal tournament football can be. The four matches also exposed some of Bafana’s limitations, especially in defence where they conceded too many goals and on Sunday night were terrorrised by forward pair Christian Kofane of Bayer Leverkusen and Bryan Mbeumo of Manchester United.
Teboho Mokoena went down just after the match started after Cameroon captain Tolo Nouchou stamped on his toes in what appeared a ploy to rough the Bafana midfielder up. Kenyan referee Peter Kamaku gave South Africa advantage from a dead ball and Foster nearly scored with a close-range header from the resultant free-kick by Oswin Appollis. 🏆 𝔸𝔽ℂ𝕆ℕ 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟝 🏆⚽️ ⒼⓄⒶⓁ: Bafana Bafana have reduced the margin!🇿🇦 1⃣➖2⃣ 🇨🇲🚨 LIVE📺 SABC 2🌐https://t.co/26PdrPrnVE#SABCSportFootball#TotalEnergiesAFCON2025#ItsGameOnEverywherepic.twitter.com/NVUBMiEW2A South Africa came into the match on the back of underwhelming performances in the group stages and coach Hugo Broos rang four changes from the team that beat Zimbabwe 2-1 on Monday, but they did not have any effect on the last 16 clash.
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Broos interestingly chose Kabini ahead of Aubrey Modiba at left wingback. This proved a bad decision as Kabini had a torrid evening in the office with some poor decision-making.
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