Good start vital for Bafana’s Afcon campaign, ‘Magents’ says

Former Bafana Bafana right-back Edward “Magents” Motale says the national team can progress to the second round at the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast if they can get a good start against Mali in Korhogo on Tuesday (10pm). 

Motale, who was part of the iconic Bafana team that won the Afcon on home soil with the late Clive Barker in 1996, said the first game is always a good indicator of how the team might fare in a tournament. 

“I think we’ll go to the next round. I’ve a strong belief that we’ll get a point against Mali, we’ll beat [Peter] Shalulile [Namibia] and then we’ll go to the next round,” Motale said of Bafana’s group E, which is completed by Namibia and Tunisia.

“The balance of the team is fair because you have young and old players and they will complement each other with energy and experience.

“But Afcon is a big stage and if you don’t plan well, whether you have all the Maradonas and the Peles, it’s going to be difficult.

“I just hope the coach and his technical team have planned well even though they didn’t [hold] camp for a long time.

“I think they only had a two-week camp and in terms of weather or climate, I’m not sure [if SA will cope].

“Fortunately, most of the games will be played at night, but the country is very humid. But we’ve got a formidable squad that can go through to the next round.”

Motale said it would be crucial how Bafana coach Hugo Broos manages his players, especially Mamelodi Sundowns players, who have already played 40 games (in five competitions) in the first half of the 2023/24 season.

“Fatigue can be crippling, but it also depends on the training.

“If the training wasn’t toned down, [if] it was hard, fatigue will catch up with them.”

There was also a concern about the overall experience of Broos’ squad, with Themba Zwane, Ronwen Williams and Percy Tau the only players remaining from the Bafana Bafana team that last appeared in an Afcon tournament in 2019 in Egypt where SA were knocked out by Nigeria in the last eight.

Most newcomers

“I’m also worried in that [experience] department. Most of the players are newcomers [at Afcon] and that is a bit of a problem because this is a new stage with all those big names there.

“To go into such a tournament you need to have mental strength. If you’re not strong mentally you’ll have a problem. Let’s hope somebody within the structure is playing that part of [helping to inculcate] the mental strength.”

Meanwhile, Broos said he will draw from his experience of winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon in 2017. 

Broos, who helped the Indomitable Lions team to victory over Egypt in Gabon, said he made it clear to the players that it will not be easy to win the tournament. 

He said the level of competition at Afcon seven years ago took him by surprise. 

“For me, it was a big surprise when I played the first games [with Cameroon] against Burkina Faso and Guinea-Bissau in 2017.

“I didn’t believe my eyes — it was so tough, so intense. 

“That experience I have to give to my players, [so] that they are aware [on] Tuesday at the kickoff [of their opening match against Mali], they know what will come.”

Additional reporting by Mahlatse Mphahlele