By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@CAFOnline.
South Africa are through to the round of 16 at Afcon after an entertaining 3-2 draw against neighbours Zimbabwe in Marrakech on Monday evening.
They finish with six points in the group, one behind winners Egypt. Both advance to the last 16 as Angola (2) finish in third and face an anxious wait to see if that is enough as one of the four best third-placed sides.
Bafana Bafana will play the runner-up from Group F (one of Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Mozambique) on Sunday, 4 January in Rabat.
As for the Warriors, they finished bottom of the group and kept up their unfortunate record of elimination in the group stage in all of their Afcon tournament appearances.
South Africa led after seven minutes as Tshepang Moremi’s shot took a wicked deflection off Divine Lunga and looped into the net.
Zimbabwe hit back in the 19th minute with a goal that will go down as one of the best of the tournament as Tawanda Maswanhise picked up the ball 35 yards out and danced past two defenders before drilling a low shot past goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
But South Africa were back in front five minutes after the break when Divine Lunga’s back header to keeper Washington Arubi allowed Lyle Foster to sneak in ahead and nod the ball into the net.
Zimbabwe equalised again in the 73rd minute as Maswanhise’s low shot was saved by Williams, but the ball deflected onto Aubrey Modiba and into the net for an own goal.
South Africa were awarded a penalty with 10 minutes remaining when midfielder Marvelous Nakamba made a goalkeeper-style diving save and handled a shot that appeared to be going wide. (The penalty was awarded after a VAR check).
Oswin Appollis converted from the spot and Zimbabwe’s hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages at the sixth attempt were dashed.
Meanwhile Egypt played out a goalless draw against Angola in their Africa Cup of Nations 2025 Group B match in Agadir, Morocco, on Monday.