South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan says the success of Bafana Bafana in the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast has made him super proud.
Bafana is through to the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations after overcoming Cape Verde on penalties in the quarter-finals on Saturday, with goalkeeper Ronwen Williams making history by saving four spot-kicks, becoming the first-ever goalkeeper in AFCON’s history to do so.
Bafana has also kept four clean sheets since losing to Mali in the opening Group E match, while coach Hugo Broos has kept the same line-up in the past four matches.
“I’m very proud,” Jordaan told iDiski Times.
“When Bafana scored the second goal against Morocco [in the quarter-finals], which was scored by Teboho Mokoena, the entire leadership of Morocco just left the stadium.
“They came and congratulated me, and they left. They had given up.”
Bafana, who are now in the semi-final for the first time since 2000, will meet Nigeria at the Stade de la Paix in Bouke on Wednesday (19:00).
When Bafana was defeated in that 2000 AFCON edition in the semi-finals that was co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana, it was the Super Eagles that ended Trott Moloto’s side journey, when Tijani Babangida scored twice in Lagos.
Bafana also lost 4-0 to Nigeria in the 2004 AFCON in Tunisia in the group stages and again 2-1 in the 2019 edition in the quarter-final in Egypt.
However, Bafana, after 10 attempts, beat Nigeria in the AFCON qualifiers in 2017 in what was the first match for Stuart Baxter of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers in Uyo with goals scored by Percy Tau and Tokelo Rantie.
On Wednesday, the rivals will meet again after Broos guided Bafana Bafana into their first semi-final, with Jordaan revealing he was always convinced of Belgian coach.
“I was in Cameroon when Broos won the AFCON with Cameroon [against Egypt in the final] and I said, ‘this is a man that we need’,” said Jordaan, who appointed Broos in May 2021 and handed him a five-year contract.
“And you could see even if we don’t play well, his strategy was clear and Ronwen Williams just brought magic on the day.
“We must give credit to the technical team, the analysts, they analysed all the penalties of Cape Verde and looked over and over as to how and where they took the penalties and Ronwen was just superb on the day.”
The former Cameroon coach’s contract with Bafana will expire at the end of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Mexico, Canada, and the US. By that time, Broos, who is now 71, would be 73.
Jordaan says as an association they have not thought about extending the contract yet because the full focus is on the semi-final against Nigeria.
“No, let us focus on the semifinal,” said Jordaan in short.
