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Bafana still have crucial AFCON qualifiers interest...

Bafana Bafana might have already sealed their qualification ticket to the AFCON finals but will still be taking keen interest in how the complete list of qualifiers shapes up at the end of business on Tuesday.

While Bafana have the task of friendly matches against Namibia and DR Congo on Saturday and Tuesday respectively to deal with for now, Hugo Broos will still be scanning across the continent's qualifiers.

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At present, the top six (according to the latest FIFA rankings) that have qualified are Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeria while the second tier has Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa, and Cape Verde.

Cameroon – who are the top ranked nation in the second tier – are expected to qualify with a home game against Burundi to play on Tuesday.

This will then drop Cape Verde into the third tier and leave Bafana Bafana as the lowest ranked nation in the second tier of seeded countries and facing the risk of dropping down by the time the draw is held on October 12.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JUNE 17: South Afric

The other seven nations that have qualified – Guinea, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Tanzania – are ranked below Bafana.

However, Cape Verde and DR Congo (likely to qualify) are the two nations that could dislodge Bafana with their qualification matches carrying more weight in ranking points than Bafana's friendly matches.

Six qualification places are at stake until Tuesday.

CAF will use the latest FIFA rankings – to be released on September 21 – to determine the seedings for the AFCON finals draw.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - AUGUST 30: Bafana Baf

This then makes the games against Namibia and DR Congo worthy friendly matches as they carry rankings points that will keep Bafana in the second tier of seeded nations and avoid dropping into the third basket which will be risky.

If Bafana drop down into the third tier, they will then face the risk of being in a group with any of the top ranked nations which could be Senegal then another from the second pot which could be hosts Ivory Coast.

The AFCON finals tournament in Ivory Coast will run from January 13 to February 11, with the top two teams in each of the six groups going through to the last 16 along with the four best third placed nations across all the six groups.

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