South Africa showcased their best performance in years, defeating Morocco 2-1 in a Group K match of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers at the FNB Stadium on Saturday evening. Despite both teams already securing qualification for the next Afcon, this game served as a crucial test for Bafana Bafana’s progress under coach Hugo Broos. Their victory against the Atlas Lions, who recently made history by becoming the first African team to reach the World Cup semifinals, indicates that South Africa’s national team can confidently aim for more than just participating in the finals in Ivory Coast next year.
In the match, South Africa took a 2-0 lead with an own goal by Munir Mohamedi and a tap-in by Zakhele Lepasa in the early stages of the first and second halves respectively. However, Hakim Ziyech of Morocco pulled one back with a brilliant strike. As a result, South Africa now leads Group K with seven points, while Morocco has six points and Liberia has one.
While South Africa’s qualification campaign is now complete, Morocco still has a match against Liberia to play in September.
