Bafana Bafana to know Cosafa Cup quarter-final opponents on Thursday

South Africa will have to wait until Thursday to find out the identity of their Cosafa Cup quarter-final opponents after a drab draw between Angola and Tanzania on Tuesday night failed to provide any immediate clarity.

The two countries played out to a goalless match in Group A of the first round of the tournament at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg and left the contest for top place in the group still wide open.

The winner of the group‚ which also includes Malawi and Mauritius‚ will play Stuart Baxter’s Bafana Bafana side on Sunday at the same venue in the knockout stage of the annual southern African championship.

Angola and Tanzania are among the eight lowly ranked countries who have to go through a group competition in the first round while South Africa are among the top six ranked sides who only enter the tournament after the first week.

Angola and Tanzania both won their opening games on Sunday‚ setting up their head-to-head clash on Tuesday as the potential group final.

But although Baxter was not on hand to watch‚ he will not have been quaking in his boots after both sides showed an inability to hold possession‚ set up goal scoring chances nor take their opportunities.

It was a poor match by any standards‚ never mind international level despite the fact that Angola and Tanzania have both brought strong squads.

Angola’s selection is made up of their top players from the GiraBola‚ their domestic league‚ while Tanzania have virtually a full international squad‚ including their Swedish based striker Thomas Ulimwengu‚ who used to be with TP Mazembe Englebert in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Both Malawi and Mauritius‚ who also played out to a goalless draw on Tuesday‚ still have an upside chance of winning the group but it would be a major upset if they were able to achieve this.

They‚ too‚ have also failed to impress‚ even though they are also near full strength.

The last Group A games are on Thursday and being played simultaneously‚ with Angola against Malawi at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace and Tanzania taking on Mauritius at the Moruleng Stadium (kick offs 5pm).

South Africa‚ meanwhile‚ continued their preparations at the Royal Marang Sports Resort in Phokeng‚ having played a friendly against Platinum Stars already.

- TimesLIVE