By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa got their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign off to a winning start by defeating stubborn Angola 2-1 in a Group B match at the Grand Stade de Marrakech on Monday evening.
The Bafana Bafana ended a six-game winless streak against Angola, which had won three and drawn three of their meetings since a World Cup qualifier in November 2015.
Oswin Appollis opened the scoring for South Africa on 21 minutes, finishing clinically after a twice-deflected cross found its way to the left winger.
That seemed to spark Angola into life and they tested Ronwen Williams in the Bafana Bafana goal on multiple occasions before Manuel Luiz Show acrobatically flicked a free kick in at his near post to level proceedings.
Substitute Tshepang Moremi looked to have scored a fine second for Bafana Bafana, until VAR ruled Lyle Foster was offside in the build-up, but there was no stopping Foster’s eventually scoring the winning goal.
The teams will be back in action on Friday 26 December, with Angola facing Zimbabwe, while South Africa will cross swords with Egypt.
Meanwhile Patson Daka scored in stoppage time for 2012 champion Zambia to grab a 1-1 draw against Mali in the early game in Casablanca.
Mali dominated and missed a penalty before the break when Willard Mwanza saved El Bilal Touré’s effort – the second saved penalty in as many games at the tournament.
Lassine Sinayoko finally broke the deadlock around the hour mark, but Daka had the final say with a header to earn Zambia a point in Group A.