Everything you need to know about Bafana Bafana’s crucial Round of 16 AFCON match against Morocco on Tuesday evening.
Bounce Back Kings
South Africa will come to a standstill when the final Round of 16 match at AFCON takes centre stage as Bafana Bafana face Morocco at the Stade de San Pedro in Ivory Coast on Tuesday night.
Bafana – tipped as one of the favorites to advance in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations after 18 months of encouraging results, commenced their tournament with a dismal performance against Mali.
They suffered a 2-0 defeat after conceding twice in just six second-half minutes.
But Hugo Broos’ men would show their resilience and redeem themselves in style with a 4-0 drubbing of neighbours Namibia before being held to a goalless draw by Tunisia (who went on to suffer elimination) in their final group match.
Having reached the quarter-finals in two of their last three AFCON appearances, Bafana Bafana will be aiming to replicate that feat when they take on the Atlas Lions of Morocco, who are Africa’s top-ranked team.
Last Meeting
Bafana might feel the have the edge having won the last time these two sides met back in July of 2023. That result came in an AFCON qualifier at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. An own goal from the North Africans’ goalkeeper Munir Mohamed and a second-half Zakhele Lepasa goal were enough to secure the win despite a 60th-minute Hakim Ziyech strike.
How to Watch
You can catch the build-up for this match at 21:00 on SABC 1 with the game set to kick-off at 22:00. If you’d prefer to watch on SuperSport, tune into SuperSport PSL which is channel 202 on DStv for the build-up at 21:00 with the match to follow immediately after at 22:00.
Predicted Line-Ups
There have been some reports of the likes of Hakim Ziyech said to be an injury doubt (ankle) while Sofiane Boufal has been ruled out of the remainder of AFCON 2023. While Boufal is out for sure, we might still see Ziyech this evening.
On the South African side of things, there were concerns that Mothobi Mvala and Khliso Mudau could miss this clash through injury. However, news out of the camp indicates that they’ve both recovered well and should be able to start.
SOUTH AFRICA
Williams; Mudau, Xulu, Mvala, Modiba; Mokoena; Morena; Zwane; Sithole; Makgopa; Tau
MOROCCO
Bono; Hakimi; Aguerd, Saiss; Amrabat; Ounahi; Amallah; Ezzalzouli; En-Nesyri; Ziyech; Chibi
Betting Odds
As you can imagine, Morocco are the favourites for this tie. However, underdogs triumphing over more fancied nations has become a theme at this competition. And with a dogged Bafana outfit looking to prove the doubters wrong, they pose a real danger to Morocco’s competition aspirations.
To Win Match
Morocco 6/10 | Draw 22/10 | South Africa 5/1
Stade de San Pedro
The stadium has a capacity of 20 000 seats. Construction began in early September 2018 and finished five years later, in early September 2023.
It is one of three newly-built venues in Ivory Coast constructed for AFCON 2023. The venue is located in the city of San Pedro, about 350km from Abidjan.
