By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa is looking forward to facing Egypt at the Grand Stade D’Agadir after beating Angola 2-1 in their opening match of the continental tournament in Marrakech on Monday, 22 December 2025.
Bafana Bafana striker Lyle Foster, scored the winning goal and was also voted Man of the Match in the game against Angola.
Egypt enjoy a 2-1 lead in the three previous meetings between the countries at past finals tournaments, although the last two sides in the 2019 edition were an upset win for Bafana Bafana.
Bafana Bafana rumbled Egypt out of their own tournament in the round of 16 in 2019, sending shockwaves through the country, who reacted in disbelief. A tight contest looked to be heading for extra time before Thembinkosi Lorch scored a superb breakaway goal to seal the win for Bafana Bafana, who were knocked out by Nigeria in the next round. Ronwen Williams is the only player who remains from that squad.
The two countries were paired in Group A at the 1996 finals, which South Africa hosted, and met in the last group game with Bafana already through to the knockout rounds. Coach Clive Barker rested several key players, and as a result, they lost 1-0 to an Egyptian side coached by Ruud Krol, who would later go on to have success with Orlando Pirates.
At the next Cup of Nations edition in Burkina Faso in 1998, the two sides met again but this time in the final in Ouagadougou.
It was Egypt who came out on top in relatively comfortable fashion. Early goals from Ahmed Hassan and Tarek Mostafa took the sting out of the game, and Egypt were able to see it out with few alarms.
South Africa’s Belgian coach Hugo Broos said he will not use a special approach to contain Mohamed Salah or Omar Marmoush.
“We are focused on no-one. The most important thing is the team,” Broos, who led Cameroon to the 2017 edition title over Egypt, told a press conference on Thursday.
“We all know how good Salah is, we all know how good Marmoush is and we all know how good Trezeguet is and other players. They are such a good team. Why should we focus on one player? We have to be prepared to beat the team.”
“We have to put Egypt in difficult (situations) and you can only do that when you use your quality and the players you normally use,” added Broos.
The match will be televised on SuperSport and SABC 2, kick-off is at 17:00, South African time.