Bafana Bafana’s World Cup hopes hang in the balance

Having had World Cup Qualification in their sights just two weeks ago, Bafana Bafana’s progression past the qualification round is far more unpredictable than it was.

South Africa faces Zimbabwe on Friday, 10 October, in the second-last matchday of the World Cup Qualifiers.

“At six o’clock, the game starts and we will fight for it like lions because we want to win that game tomorrow, you can be sure of it,” head coach Hugo Broos said.

“We know what is at stake. This is the business end of the qualifiers, but nothing has changed, and we need to be the same team we have been for the last two or three years.”

Bafana Bafana are currently second on goal difference in Group C, behind Benin, which took first place after the South Africans were forced to forfeit their win against Lesotho in March.

This saw the team drop from 17 points to 14, level with Benin, and also affected their goal difference due to the 3-0 loss they were handed as a forfeit.

The South African Football Association (SAFA) stated that it would appeal the decision after FIFA handed down the sanction.

However, there is no question that South Africa was at fault, as Teboho Mokoena, the suspended player, had met the yellow card threshold for suspension in the games leading up to the match.

Additionally, former SAFA boss and Court of Arbitration for Sport arbitrator Raymond Hack said that he “has never heard of a situation where the appeal board overturned a decision of the Disciplinary Committee concerning an ineligible player.”

It’s important to note that only the team in first place will progress to the tournament to be hosted in the United States, Canada, and Mexico next year.

However, South Africa has an advantage going into the final two matches, as both will be played on home soil, as noted by the Benin coach, Gernot Rohr.

The match against Zimbabwe, which was initially scheduled as an away fixture for Bafana Bafana, will be hosted at Moses Mabida Stadium in Durban due to a lack of suitable venues in the country.

South Africa will then host fourth-place Rwanda in Mbombela on 14 October, the same day Benin travels to Nigeria for their final game of the qualifying round.

Even if Benin remain on top of the log after the next two games, there is still hope for Bafana Bafana to qualify for the tournament.

Once all ten matchdays have elapsed, the top four runners-up from Africa’s nine qualifying groups will face off to determine the continent’s representative at the intercontinental playoffs.

This will see six teams from five continents face off in March next year for two spots at the World Cup.

2026 World Cup

The 23rd edition of the tournament, which takes place every four years, will be hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Most matches will be played in the US, with Mexico and Canada as auxiliary hosts.

This will be the first time that more than one nation has hosted the tournament since 2002, when it was held in Korea and Japan.

South Africa, which qualified for the tournament, narrowly missed out on qualifying for the knockout stages, with Slovenia progressing ahead of it only because it had scored more goals.

The 2026 World Cup will also be the first time more than 32 teams have been included in the competition, with 48 squads being able to qualify.

This will not affect the number of games played by each team, as FIFA has expanded the number of groups rather than the number of teams in a group.

However, this will increase the total number of games played throughout the tournament from 64, as in the past seven tournaments, to 104.