Their coach believes it will be a tight game despite the obvious gap in pedigree and the captain urged Bafana Bafana to take lessons from their shock of Egypt four years ago when they meet Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations last 16 on Tuesday.
Morocco — forged into a unit by coach Walid Regragui from a powerful player base created from arguably the best, almost certainly the most expensive, development system on the continent — became the first African World Cup semi-finalists in Qatar in December 2022.
They are ranked No 1 in Africa and 13th in the world.
Bafana did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup and are ranked 12th in Africa and 66th in the world, and, apart from sporadic big results such as their last 16 shock of hosts Egypt at the 2019 Nations Cup, have underperformed to the extent of battling to qualify for the tournament.
But coach Hugo Broos' side put up a fight progressing past group E in Ivory Coast, following a 2-0 opening defeat against Mali with a 4-0 win against Namibia and 0-0 draw against Tunisia to end in second place.
South Africa have a good head-to-head record against Morocco (three wins, three draws and two defeats in eight matches) and recent clashes have been close. In the qualifiers Bafana lost 2-1 in Rabat and stunned the World Cup semi-finalists by the same scoreline in Johannesburg, though that match was a dead rubber.
Broos believes Bafana can make a game of it again at Stade Laurent Pokou in San Pedro (10pm).
“I think it will be a 50/50 game,” the coach said.
“Maybe Morocco are not what they were at the World Cup, but I think they want to win Afcon.
“And I think, maybe for the last time, in a way of speaking, they will achieve their highest level.
“They were not very good in the group stages, but it’s still a very good team. And I know on Tuesday they also know what is coming next, so they will be doing everything and with the quality they have it will be a tough battle.
“But it’s a football match and what has happened here in the past few weeks at Afcon [in upsets] is amazing, so let’s make another surprise on Tuesday.”
This Nations Cup has reinforced that tightly-drilled teams who put in the work and show commitment to a clever gameplan can upset the odds against stronger sides on paper.
Bafana produced such a performance dethroning the Pharaohs to stun 80,000 home supporters in Cairo International Stadium in 2019.
Their captain at this tournament, Ronwen Williams, came into his own between the posts four years ago. He was asked how Bafana defeated Egypt and if there are similarities to another clash against North African giants.
“We believed in our structure,” he said. “The main thing was we worked hard on our structure for that game. And just being a team.
“If you want to be individuals against such a wonderful side you will suffer. And we were just a team from the first minute to the last and even the subs who came in did amazing work.
“We just had the belief that we could write history for ourselves. And we're facing a similar situation now where no-one is giving us a chance to beat them [Morocco].
“It's just to take our lessons from 2019, be a team from the first minute to the last, form a block and play the football we know.”
Morocco topped group F, beating Tanzania 3-0, drawing 1-1 against Democratic Republic of Congo and ending with a 1-0 win against Zambia.
The winners of Tuesday's clash meet the winners between Cape Verde and Mauritania in the quarterfinals in Yamoussoukro on Saturday.
Morocco may not be as good as at World Cup, but they want to win Afcon: Broos
Image: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
Their coach believes it will be a tight game despite the obvious gap in pedigree and the captain urged Bafana Bafana to take lessons from their shock of Egypt four years ago when they meet Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations last 16 on Tuesday.
Morocco — forged into a unit by coach Walid Regragui from a powerful player base created from arguably the best, almost certainly the most expensive, development system on the continent — became the first African World Cup semi-finalists in Qatar in December 2022.
They are ranked No 1 in Africa and 13th in the world.
Bafana did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup and are ranked 12th in Africa and 66th in the world, and, apart from sporadic big results such as their last 16 shock of hosts Egypt at the 2019 Nations Cup, have underperformed to the extent of battling to qualify for the tournament.
But coach Hugo Broos' side put up a fight progressing past group E in Ivory Coast, following a 2-0 opening defeat against Mali with a 4-0 win against Namibia and 0-0 draw against Tunisia to end in second place.
South Africa have a good head-to-head record against Morocco (three wins, three draws and two defeats in eight matches) and recent clashes have been close. In the qualifiers Bafana lost 2-1 in Rabat and stunned the World Cup semi-finalists by the same scoreline in Johannesburg, though that match was a dead rubber.
Broos believes Bafana can make a game of it again at Stade Laurent Pokou in San Pedro (10pm).
“I think it will be a 50/50 game,” the coach said.
“Maybe Morocco are not what they were at the World Cup, but I think they want to win Afcon.
“And I think, maybe for the last time, in a way of speaking, they will achieve their highest level.
“They were not very good in the group stages, but it’s still a very good team. And I know on Tuesday they also know what is coming next, so they will be doing everything and with the quality they have it will be a tough battle.
“But it’s a football match and what has happened here in the past few weeks at Afcon [in upsets] is amazing, so let’s make another surprise on Tuesday.”
This Nations Cup has reinforced that tightly-drilled teams who put in the work and show commitment to a clever gameplan can upset the odds against stronger sides on paper.
Bafana produced such a performance dethroning the Pharaohs to stun 80,000 home supporters in Cairo International Stadium in 2019.
Their captain at this tournament, Ronwen Williams, came into his own between the posts four years ago. He was asked how Bafana defeated Egypt and if there are similarities to another clash against North African giants.
“We believed in our structure,” he said. “The main thing was we worked hard on our structure for that game. And just being a team.
“If you want to be individuals against such a wonderful side you will suffer. And we were just a team from the first minute to the last and even the subs who came in did amazing work.
“We just had the belief that we could write history for ourselves. And we're facing a similar situation now where no-one is giving us a chance to beat them [Morocco].
“It's just to take our lessons from 2019, be a team from the first minute to the last, form a block and play the football we know.”
Morocco topped group F, beating Tanzania 3-0, drawing 1-1 against Democratic Republic of Congo and ending with a 1-0 win against Zambia.
The winners of Tuesday's clash meet the winners between Cape Verde and Mauritania in the quarterfinals in Yamoussoukro on Saturday.
MORE:
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Beat Morocco and Bafana have a path to the final, says Broos
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