With the clock quickly turning towards the start of the 2023 AFCON finals in Cote d'Ivoire, Hugo Broos has guided Bafana Bafana to within sight of angling for their best finish at the tournament in the last 20 years.
The documented history of Bafana at the AFCON finals has been that of a decline moving down from being winners in 1996 under Cliver Barker to runners-up two years later with Jomo Sono and then third place finishers at the turn of the new millennium with Trott Moloto in charge.
READ | Ntseki: 'If you don't get results, you should be ready to be fired'
After that, it was a quarterfinal place at the 2002 tournament with Carlos Queiroz calling the shots.
Since then, Bafana came stuck at the group stages for the next three tournaments before failing to qualify in 2010 and 2012.
In 2004 it was Styles Phumo as head coach then in 2006 it was disaster under Ted Dumitru with Carlos Alberto Parreira in charge at the 2008 tournament.
As hosts in 2013 with Gordon Igesund in charge, it was another quarterfinal after being bundled out by Mali before it was back to being stuck in the group stages under Shakes Mashaba in Equatorial Guinea in 2015.
Bafana next again failed to qualify for the 2017 finals in Gabon before reaching the quarterfinals again under Stuart Baxter in 2019.
Molefi Ntseki – who was sacked at Kaizer Chiefs – was at fault for failure to qualify for the 2021 tournament in Cameroon.
Broos then took over Bafana in shambles in May 2021 at the back of that AFCON qualification disaster.
While taking Bafana back to the AFCON finals is celebration, Broos is best placed for getting the business having taken Cameroon to glory against all odds in 2017.
Minus Andre Onana, Joel Matip, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Maxime Poundje, Ibrahim Amadou, and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Broos went all the way to guide the Indomitable Lions to their fifth title.
This means Broos will now head to Cote d'Ivoire as the first ever Bafana coach to arrive at the tournament having previously won it.
READ | 'It's a hard one to take' - Dolly on Chiefs' Carling Knockout exit
The plus is that the 71-year-old is also familiar with the West African territory.
With Bafana so far, Broos is without defeat in the last 11 games stretching over a year during which he has faced the top ranked nation on the continent Morocco while also facing better ranked nations in DR Congo and Cote d'Ivoire.
Bafana will face Tunisia, Mali, and Namibia in the group at the finals due to run from January 13 to February 11, 2024, and will be based at the Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly in the northern Cote d'Ivoire city of Korhogo.
You must be Sign In to read and post comments.
Click HERE to register!