2023 AFCON: Ex-South African Star Explains Why Super Eagles Will Beat Bafana Bafana

Former South African player, Junior Khanye believes his country’s national team, Bafana Bafana have met their Waterloo in the 2023 AFCON.

South Africa recorded a 2-0 defeat in their opening 2023 AFCON game which was against Mali. They bounced back by defeating Namibia 4-0 in their second group stage game and ended the group stage campaign with a 0-0 draw with Tunisia.

They stunned football enthusiasts on January 30 when they defeated the tournament’s favourites, Morocco 2-0 in the round of 16. They however struggled against Cape Verde in the quarter-finals and managed to win via a penalty shootout.

At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 7, the Bafana Bafana will be tested against the Super Eagles of Nigeria who have conceded just a goal in five games so far in the tournament.

Due to the unconvincing win against Cape Verde, Junior Khanye who is a former South Africa under-23 international argued that his team stands no chance against Nigeria.

He however pointed out the commanding performance of South Africa’s goalkeeper Ronwen Williams who saved four penalties in five shootouts against Cape Verde.

“Nigeria is going to beat us, and that’s when we will get a wake-up call. I’m not saying this because I’m being negative, but it’s just me stating facts”, Junior Khanye told iDiski TV.

“We have to be realistic, we were not at our best.

“We didn’t play well. We could have lost that game. But, luckily, we were very lucky. And listen, I’m saying we were very lucky, but we also need to give to Ronwen Williams.

“He was the star of the show and saved those penalties very well, we have to give credit to him for that. But, when it comes to playing, we were terrible. We were defending too much.”

He continued, “I think yesterday’s game was our worst at the tournament when I look at the other matches. I don’t think that we were at our best, any team can beat us. Look at the chances that Cape Verde created, it’s all luck.

“Any of those chances could have easily gone in. But again, we have to say thank you for our defense. They did a very important job despite Cape Verde creating chances. It’s over for us. As I said, we are lucky to be where we are at the moment.

“I love Bafana Bafana, and I want to see them doing well. But, this is our last game, those guys (Nigeria) are going to punish us”.