Bafana Bafana: Part 3: Accomplishments So Far

A brief history of the South African national soccer team’s achievements

South Africa's national football team Bafana Bafana has a relatively short international history. From their international debut in Durban on 7 July 1992 against Cameroon to their 2-1 defeat against France in the 2010 FIFA World Cup the team showed the world what they were made of.

1992 proved to be a strong debut against one of Africa's leading teams who had made the quarterfinals of the World Cup only two years previously. Doctor Khumalo scored the only goal in the game to give South Africa a 1-0 win.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was their biggest challenge yet and despite the fact that they did not make it through to the Round of 16 the team executed surprise defeats against Mexico and France. The class of 2009 recaptured the verve and spirit of 1996 and left fans elated.

African Nations Cup 1996

In 1996 Bafana Bafana hosted the African Cup of Nations tournament and occupied a guaranteed place. Under the leadership of Coach Clive Barker the national team rose to the occasion and topped its group after beating Cameroon 3-0 and Angola 1-0 before losing 1-0 to Egypt.

In the quarterfinals Bafana beat Algeria 2-1 to set up a semi-final clash against Ghana. Putting in one of the finest performances ever by the South African national team the home team triumphed 3-0 in front of 75 000 spectators at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

Bafana faced Tunisia in the final after the North Africans defeated Zambia 4-2 in the semi-finals. In front of a crowd of 80 000 at the FNB Stadium Neil Tovey's men gave the supporters what they wanted by beating the Tunisians 2-0, with Mark Williams netting both goals.

World Cup Qualification

Bafana Bafana continued to excel on the international stage when, in 1997, the team qualified for the World Cup for the first time. They faced the difficult task of taking on the hosts, France, in their first match in Group C. The French beat South Africa 3-0. France went on to beat Brazil by the same score in the final.

Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Denmark in the team's second match and shared a 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia. The two draws and one loss saw South Africa exit the event in the group stages after finishing third in its group.

2002 World Cup

The team’s performance at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan proved to be quite noteworthy. Competing in Group B they drew 2-2 with Paraguay and beat Slovenia 1-0. That left Bafana with a shot of making it to the Round of 16, but a tough encounter against highly fancied Spain awaited the side.

In a back-and-forth tussle Spain took an early lead through Raul. Only eight minutes into the second stanza Lucas Radebe levelled the scores. Raul restored Spain's lead three minutes later, and the game ended with a score of South Africa 2, Spain 3.

Successful World Cup Bid

During May 2004, the mood of South African football fans was considerably brightened when the country won the right to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup and become the first African country to be awarded the honour.

Later that year, in November, the Nigerian bogey was finally ended when Bafana Bafana beat the Super Eagles 2-1 in the Nelson Mandela Challenge at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

Despite a decent showing as an invited team to the Concacaf Gold Cup, in which they drew three matches and beat Mexico 2-1, 2005 was not a good year for South Africa. They scraped wins over lightly regarded teams early in the year, but ended it with four losses and a draw in their last five matches.

Improvement

South Africa appeared to be making progress under Coach Parreira and a stylish 3-0 victory over Paraguay in March 2008 was cause for optimism. But the following month Parreira shockingly resigned from his position to spend more time with his wife who had recently undergone surgery for cancer. His replacement was another Brazilian, recommended by Parreira: Joel Santana who brought with him an excellent record in Brazilian club football but no international experience.

In at the deep end

Santana was thrown in at the deep end, taking over just before a series of African Nations Cup qualifiers. He didn't know the players and he didn't have time to work with them; South Africa failed to qualify for the 2010 African Nations Cup in Angola.

Signs soon emerged that Santana was making a difference when SA scored a national record five consecutive wins in succession – over Zambia, Cameroon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, and Malawi.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup

Lead by Joel Santana South Africa astounded fans with a 1-1 draw against Mexico and, in a surprising turn-around, beat France 2-1. They lost 3-0 to Uruguay and did not qualify for the Round of 16 but the national team had already established themselves as world-class contenders.

Confederations Cup

The team's overall performance has improved, and this was evident during the Confederations Cup in June 2009 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The general discipline of players has also improved.

Former South African football player and one of the longest serving and highly-rated coaches in South African Soccer Pitso Mosimane was appointed head coach on 15th July 2010 and has since lead the national team to a 1-0 victory over World Cup quarter finalists Ghana.

On November 17 2010 South African will take on USA at the Cape Town Stadium as part of the Nelson Mandela Challenge. Despite USA's official FIFA ranking at 18 and Bafana Bafana's ranking at 58th the team have not failed to disappoint so far in 2010.

Want to know more about the Boys? Read our articles on Bafana Bafana Part 1: South Africa’s National Team and Bafana Bafana Part 2: The History.