Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has acknowledged that he was satisfied with taking a point in Brazzaville after being surprised by how the Congolese made them suffer.
Bafana needed three points to join the list of nations that have qualified with two games to play but had to settle for a draw against The Red Devils on their territory.
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Congo came out different from the team that looked vulnerable as they were clobbered 5-0 on Friday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Former Free State Stars goalkeeper Chris Mafoumbi was dropped along with five others who started in Gqeberha.
"Congo surprised us as we suffered a lot and couldn't even find the solutions to score and we are happy to draw," conceded Broos after the match.
The last two matches for Broos' men in Group K will be a trip to Uganda and a home game against South Sudan with both being played in November.
They will need three points from those two games to seal qualification to the AFCON finals to be held in Morocco on December 21, 2025 – January 18, 2026.
Earlier on Tuesday, Uganda secured one of two qualification tickets from Group K with a 2-1 win in neighbouring South Sudan.
"I didn't even talk about the result (Uganda/South Sudan) to my players because we had to focus on our game, which we knew that it will not be a simple game.
"So, we focused on our game.
"We knew that if we win here (Brazzaville), then we qualify, but unfortunately, we didn't win and didn't qualify and complicated our business.
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"We are in the same situation because we still need victory.
"If we win against Uganda or South Sudan, then we have qualified," says Broos.