Bafana Bafana beware, heavy is the tag of ‘favourites’

After the win over Morocco, South Africa will be expected to easily beat Cape Verde but at this AFCON the underdogs thrive

Such was Bafana Bafana’s impressive defeat of Morocco on Tuesday night it would not be surprising to have many considering a spot in the semifinal of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) a certainty for the 1996 champions.

Coach Hugo Broos essentially said that much prior to the glorious 2-0 win in San Pedro, after all. The Belgian actually even looked past the penultimate stage of the biennial, continental showpiece.

“If we beat Morocco, we have a big chance to play in the final. We will know we have beaten a very good team, and in the next round we will avoid a big team,” the silver-haired coach said.

South Africa’s next opponents are definitely not a big team – Bafana is set to take on Cape Verde in the quarterfinal on Saturday night.

So yes, why would a team that clinically dispatched off the continent’s number-one-ranked football nation slip up afterwards? How can an outfit beaming with so much confidence not make quick work of one that was long supposed to have gone home?

Well, for the same reason that most are proclaiming this the best AFCON ever. For the same reason, all of Senegal, Egypt, Cameroon, Tunisia, Algeria and Ghana are no longer part of the on-the-pitch festivities in the Ivory Coast. For the same reason that the host nation is still standing despite having had such a wretched first round, they fired their coach only to find themselves sneaking into the knockout and then sending the holders packing.

Nothing can be taken for granted given the tournament’s peculiar tendency to produce surprise results. This has been an AFCON of the underdogs.

Bafana’s progress confirms that much.

They were underdogs against Morocco, and their victory is – rightly – being described as one of the tournament’s biggest shocks.

In their opening match against Mali, who beat Bafana 2-0, they were underdogs. Historically, they would have been favourites against Namibia, but with the Brave Warriors having won against Tunisia and Bafana defeated by the Eagles, it was touch and go prior to that match. Even after their 4-0 demolition of Namibia, doubts abounded still as Bafana squared up to Tunisia in the last group match.

That will not be the case on Saturday though for the win over the Atlas Lions has now cast Ronwen Williams and Co under a different spotlight – that of the team to beat, and how Cape Verde would love to do just that.

And the Blue Sharks know they can.

Bebé - Celebrating his goal for Cape Verde

To the uninitiated, the tiny West African island country has twice gotten the better of Bafana Bafana to send shock waves equivalent to those reverberating in the Ivory Coast right now.

Of course, the majority of the current Blue Sharks squad would not have been there for those back-to-back 2-1 victories four days apart in Praia and Durban back in September of 2017. They will, however, be aware of that proud record and you can bet they’d love nothing more than to replicate that.

They will remember too that when South Africa hosted the AFCON in 2013, their predecessors earned a credible point on their tournament debut courtesy of a goalless draw against Bafana and went on to reach the semifinals.

Such history should inspire, right?

Add to that their incredible showing this year in which they emerged victorious out of a very tough group that included record AFCON winners Egypt as well as four-time champions Ghana and you have a Cape Verde side that should be a potential banana-skin for Bafana.

But why is it that such a small country – Cape Verde has a population of just over half a million – with very few resources and a league that cannot even produce a team competitive enough to go past the preliminary stages of the continental competitions is making such waves?

Well, their football association did what is now common and went around the Diaspora to find players with Cape Verdean origins. Of their 26-member squad only ten were born in Cape Verde, the rest are players born in countries such as Portugal, France and the Netherlands but have roots - through their parents or grandparents – in the country.

Stopira is the only play in the squad based at home with the rest spread all across Europe – Portugal, France, Turkey, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Russia and Slovakia - as well as Asia in Saudi Arabia and the UAE plus the USA.

Not many of their players are attached to a well-known club with Bebe’s Rayo Valecano and Ankaragucu for whom Garry Rodrigues plays as well as Logan Costa’s Toulouse perhaps the most easily recognized clubs.

Yet what they lack in reputations and big names, they make up for with a lot of hard work, dedication and a fighting spirit that has seen them impress in the group stages against revered outfits to get to where they are now.

And nothing illustrated that never-die-spirit better than their performance in the thrilling 2-2 draw with Egypt when they scored first, got pegged back and went behind. It was very late in the game and with two wins already and their progression guaranteed, they could have accepted defeat to a team everyone had expected them to lose to in any case.

But not the Blue Sharks. They persisted and earned the equalizer to win the group over two multiple AFCON winners.

Against Mauritania in the round of 16, they would have been expected to win and they did – albeit somewhat fortuitously via a penalty they earned courtesy of kamikaze defending by the opposition. They are now certainly underdogs against Bafana for Saturday’s match.

It makes for yet another intriguing match of a tournament that has produced such shocking results the betting crew among us must be wondering just what to do next.

Logic would dictate that Bafana, who have also twice beaten Cape Verde in World Cup qualifiers back in 2005, are the favourites. And one would expect that, as the most senior among the coaches at AFCON and a former winner, Hugo Broos would be wily enough to know just how dangerous the underdogs can be and prepare his team accordingly.

He, after all, showed it with Tuesday’s victory over Morocco that matches are won on the pitch and not via the grading given prior to kick-off based on history or even current form – right?