Under the clinical floodlights of the Al Medina Stadium in Rabah on Sunday night, the ghost of 1996 retreated further into the shadows of South African history. ForBafana Bafana, the 2025Africa Cup of Nations(Afcon) ended not with the roar of a champion, but with the haunting echoes of what might have been, as Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions secured a 2-1 victory to march into the quarter-finals. For Hugo Broos, the man who once led Cameroon to the African summit in 2017, this was a homecoming of the cruellest kind.
For the first time in his tenure as South Africa’s commander-in-chief, Broos tasted defeat in open play during a knockout stage, a bitter pill swallowed in the cool Moroccan air. Broos is rarely a man for the predictable, and his team sheet reflected a coach trying to outmanoeuvre his own shadow. In a “furnace-hot” encounter that demanded both grit and guile, the Belgian threw teenage sensation Relebohile Mofokeng into the fray, benching Tshepang Moremi.
The defensive line saw a similar shake-up, with Samkelo Kabini handed a high-stakes start while the veteran Aubrey Modiba watched from the sidelines. The strategy was clear: absorb and strike. Initially, the gamble looked inspired.
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Within six minutes, Mofokeng danced through a jittery Cameroonian backline, but the fairy-tale start evaporated as his effort sailed agonisingly over the crossbar. South Africa dominated the early rhythm, their passing crisp and purposeful, yet they lacked the clinical edge to turn territorial dominance into a scoreboard reality. In football, if you do not punish Cameroon, they eventually punish you.
After weathering the South African storm, the Indomitable Lions found their footing. In the 34th minute, the silence of the South African supporters was deafening. Following a poorly defended corner, Junior Tchamadeu pounced.
A tense video assistant referee (VAR) check followed, the kind that makes seconds feel like hours, before the goal was confirmed. Ronwen Williams was beaten, and the momentum had shifted.44 The second half began with a Central African blitz. Only a desperate clearance from Mbekezeli Mbokazi prevented an immediate second, but the reprieve was short-lived.
Just minutes later, Bayer Leverkusen’s teenage prodigy Christian Kofane rose highest to meet a Mahamadou Nagida cross. His header was a dagger to the heart of Bafana’s ambitions, doubling the lead and leaving the South Africans staring into the abyss. To their credit, Bafana did not go quietly into the Rabat night.
On the hour mark, Devis Epassy produced a moment of goalkeeping brilliance to deny Kabini. Shortly after, Teboho Mokoena, South Africa’s specialist in the spectacular, unleashed a trademark free-kick that seemed destined for the top corner, only for Epassy to claw it away with a sprawling save. There were moments of frustration; Lyle Foster and Khuliso Mudau were left rueing missed connections in the box as the clock ticked down.
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