Bafana Bafana midfielder Sphephelo ‘Yaya’ Sithole says Amadou Haidara of Mali was his toughest opponent at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Sithole notably struggled to deal with the high press and pace of the West Africans in the opening game before coming into his own and providing the perfect foil to Teboho Mokoena in their run to the bronze medal finish.
It was South Africa’s first time on the podium since 2000 and a huge boost for a country that failed to qualify for the previous edition, with Sithole being one of the memorable performers in Côte d’Ivoire this past month.
But the RB Leipzig midfielder left a lasting impression on Sithole, who was only one of two European based players in the 23-man squad alongside Mihlali Mayambela.
“The number four against Mali [was my toughest opponent], Amadou Haidara that guy is very good, with the ball and without the ball as well, he is very good,” he explained.
“Everything about him, without the ball, he is very physical, with the ball he can play well, he has a good mentality, he was pushing the team to it’s best at all times, every minute they were pushing against us.”
Currently on the books of the Portuguese second-tier side, Tondela, the defensive midfielder admits it was a slight shock to the system facing Mali, who were tipped as one of the favourites to win the title.
“I think everybody knows this competition is difficult, all the best players in Africa come and play this competition, so for us who are not playing at the top level, our first game wasn’t easy for us,” Sithole said about his first AFCON.
“But I think we adapted very well which helped us to have a very good tournament.
“I think firstly, everyone knows this competition is difficult, all the best players in Africa are here, for us, who are not playing at the top level, the first game wasn’t easy for us, but afterwards we adapted very well and helped us play a very good tournament,” Sithole said.
“The lesson I took in this competition is the never-give-up attitude, I know everybody says never give up, but if you come here in this tournament, I think everyone saw anything can happen at any time, at any minute.
“You saw some teams two goals in 20 minutes, so it shows the level of concentration needs to be very high, you need to push all the way in order to win this tournament if you look at the likes of Ivory Coast – they did very well [in the final], where everybody thought they won’t win the tournament but they did.”
