Bafana Bafana COSAFA Cup guide

Bafana Bafana players during training at Sturrock Park on 1 June 2022. Picture: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix

Bafana Bafana players during training at Sturrock Park on 1 June 2022. Picture: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix

Published Jun 30, 2022

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Johannesburg - South Africa's Bafana Bafana, five-time winners

South African Football Association

President: Danny Jordaan

Website: www.safa.net

Established: 1991

Affiliated to FIFA: 1992

Affiliated to CAF: 1992

Honours: 1996 African Nations Cup winners; 1997 Afro-Asian Nations Cup winners; 2002,

2007, 2008, 2016, 2021 COSAFA Cup winners

Brief history: South Africa are one of only two COSAFA member countries to have won the African Nations Cup title, doing so on home soil at their first attempt in 1996. Zambia joined them with their 2012 success.

South Africa were runners-up in Burkina Faso two years later and finished third at the 2000 Nations Cup tournament in Ghana and Nigeria.

Bafana Bafana have also qualified for three World Cups, competing in France in 1998 and Japan/South Korea in 2002. They also hosted the tournament in 2010.

They won the Afro-Asian Nations Cup, beating Asian champions Saudi Arabia over two legs in 1999, and also holds the distinction of being the only southern African country to provide a winner of an African club competition.

Orlando Pirates claimed the African Champions Cup in 1995, Kaizer Chiefs the African Cup Winners’ Cup in 2001 and Mamelodi Sundowns in the Champions League in 2016.

But despite all that success, South Africa reached the final of COSAFA Cup for the first

time in 2002, winning the trophy with a 4-1 aggregate triumph over Malawi in the two-legged final.

After more barren years, they claimed the back-to-back tournaments, beating old foes

Zambia on penalties in the final in 2007, and running out victorious in 2008, despite fielding an unofficial ‘President’s XI’ line-up that included players mostly from the second tier of the country’s football.

They repeated that squad mix in Zimbabwe in 2009, and ended up finishing fourth after losing to Mozambique in the third-place playoff.

They went one better with a third-place finish in Zambia in 2013, but were ousted by Botswana in the quarterfinals on home soil in 2015 and then lost in the Plate semi-finals to Malawi.

They regained the title in Namibia in 2016, beating Botswana 3-2 in a thrilling final in Windhoek with a squad made up mainly of players that would compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

They had Plate Final wins in 2017, 2018 and 2019, but lifted the main Cup competition in 2021 by beating guest nation Senegal in the final.

COSAFA Cup record, tournament finishes:

1997 – Did not enter

1998 – First round

1999 – Quarterfinals

2000 – Semifinals

2001 – Quarter-finals

2002 – Winners

2003 – Quarter-finals

2004 – First round

2005 – Semi-finals

2006 – First round

2007 – Winners

2008 – Winners

2009 – Semi-finals

2013 – Semi-finals

2015 – Quarter-finals

2016 – Winners

2017 – Quarter-finals (Plate winners)

2018 – Quarter-finals (Plate winners)

2019 – Quarter-finals (Plate winners)

2021 – Winners

COSAFA Cup results record (P W D L F A)

Home 30 16 11 3 39 11

Away 23 12 7 4 34 17

Total 53 28 18 7 73 28

COSAFA Cup, 2021 matches (dates) and goalscorers:

6-7-21 Gqeberha: BOTSWANA Group Stages 1-0 Malinga

8-7-21 Gqeberha: ESWATINI Group Stages 1-0 Sibonyani

13-7-21 Gqeberha: LESOTHO Group Stages 4-0 Letsoalo 3, Mkhulise

14-7-21 Gqeberha: ZAMBIA Group Stages 0-0

16-7-21 Gqeberha: MOZAMBIQUE Semifinals 3-0 Ngcobo, Maart,Letsoalo pen

18-7-21 Gqeberha SENEGAL Final 0-0

Goalscorers:

4 goals – Letsoalo

3 – Maboe, Mayo, Modise, Motupa, Mphela, Ndlanya

2 – Bacela, Buckley, Fransch, Kekana, Kutumela, Masuku, Modiba, T Mokoena, Moseamedi,

1 – Chabangu, Fredericks, Kauleza, Maart, Madisha, Mahamutsa, Malinga, Manyisa,

Margeman, Masango, P Masinga, Mazibuko, Mhlongo, Mkhulise, Mokate, Mooki, Ndlela,

Ngcobo, Nhleko, Nomvethe, Norodien, L Phiri, M Phiri, Pule, Raselemane, Sapula, Shongwe,

Sibonyani, Tsutsulupa, B Vilakazi, Xulu

Hat-tricks:

Letsoalo vs Lesotho (2021)

Records and sequences:

Biggest win: 5-1 vs Eswatini (2016)

Heaviest defeat: 0-2 vs Mauritius (2004)

Biggest home win: 4-0 vs Lesotho (2021)

Biggest away win: 5-1 vs Eswatini (2016)

Heaviest home defeat: 0-1 vs Zimbabwe (2000); 0-1 vs Zimbabwe (2003); 0-1 vs Tanzania

(2017)

Heaviest away defeat: 0-2 vs Mauritius (2004)

Highest scoring match: 5-1 vs Eswatini (2016)

Longest winning run: 4 games (from 26-07-08 to 26-10-09)

Longest losing run: 2 games (from 19-07-03 to 10-01-04)

Longest unbeaten run: 14 games (from 26-01-05 to 28-10-09; from 04-07-17 to 18-07-21)

Longest run without a win: 3 games (from 21-07-01 to 21-07-02; 24-05-15 to 18-06-16; 02-

06-19 to 07-06-19)

Total clean sheets: 31 matches (58.5%)

Total failed to score: 18 matches (34.0%)

Clean sheets at home: 21 matches (70.0%)

Clean sheets away: 10 matches (43.5%)

Failed to score at home: 11 matches (36.7%)

Failed to score away: 7 matches (30.4%)

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