BAFANA Bafana have both fond and tragic memories of facing Zimbabwe over the past two decades ahead of tomorrow's 13th meeting between the two countries at Orlando Stadium.
The friendly fixture is a first between the pair in two years, with Zimbabwe having won the last in Harare in November 2011 despite Bradley Grobler scoring on debut for Bafana.
Kaizer Chiefs striker Knowledge Musona netted a brace to give the Warriors the win and he will again be the danger man tomorrow despite his perceived lack of form.
Bafana edge the head-to-heads with six wins to Zimbabwe's five, and a single draw. Both sides have netted 13 goals, suggesting matches have been tight , barring their first encounter that ended in a heavy 4-1 defeat for South Africa in a 1994 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Harare .
The return fixture the following year ended 1-1.
A year later and the team's met again, this time in a home friendly international that South Africa won 1-0 thanks to a late Phil Masinga goal.
Zimbabwe were invited to the Four Nations Cup in November 1995 that was used as a warm-up to the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations and this time a brace from Shaun Bartlett was enough to see Bafana to victory. It would be another four years before the teams met again, a friendly international at Soccer City that Zimbabwe won 1-0 thanks to a Harrington Shereni goal against an experimental Bafana lineup.
A Delron Buckley brace gave Bafana a 2-0 win in a 2002 World Cup qualifier, but the result mattered little as 13 people, including children as young as five, lost their lives in a stampede after overzealous police officers fired tear-gas into the stands of the Rufaro Stadium.
The teams met again just 20 days after the events in Harare, this time in a Cosafa Cup semifinal that was won 1-0 by the Zimbabweans in Port Elizabeth, Kaitano Tembo getting the goal.
Bafana won the return fixture in their World Cup qualification campaign on their way to the 2002 finals with a 2-1 home success, Bartlett and Benni McCarthy on the scoresheet, while Peter Ndlovu netted again almost 10 years after his brace in their first match.
Zimbabwe won a Cosafa Cup quarterfinal 1-0 in East London in 2003 as Lazarus Muhoni scored the only goal of the game, before South Africa won 2-1 in a friendly international in 2008 in Germiston.
The sides also clashed in January 2010 in a World Cup warm-up in Durban. Siphiwe Tshabalala, Thulasizwe Mbuyane and Lucas Thwala got the goals for the home side.
SA and Zimbabwe boast rich rivalry
BAFANA Bafana have both fond and tragic memories of facing Zimbabwe over the past two decades ahead of tomorrow's 13th meeting between the two countries at Orlando Stadium.
The friendly fixture is a first between the pair in two years, with Zimbabwe having won the last in Harare in November 2011 despite Bradley Grobler scoring on debut for Bafana.
Kaizer Chiefs striker Knowledge Musona netted a brace to give the Warriors the win and he will again be the danger man tomorrow despite his perceived lack of form.
Bafana edge the head-to-heads with six wins to Zimbabwe's five, and a single draw. Both sides have netted 13 goals, suggesting matches have been tight , barring their first encounter that ended in a heavy 4-1 defeat for South Africa in a 1994 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Harare .
The return fixture the following year ended 1-1.
A year later and the team's met again, this time in a home friendly international that South Africa won 1-0 thanks to a late Phil Masinga goal.
Zimbabwe were invited to the Four Nations Cup in November 1995 that was used as a warm-up to the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations and this time a brace from Shaun Bartlett was enough to see Bafana to victory. It would be another four years before the teams met again, a friendly international at Soccer City that Zimbabwe won 1-0 thanks to a Harrington Shereni goal against an experimental Bafana lineup.
A Delron Buckley brace gave Bafana a 2-0 win in a 2002 World Cup qualifier, but the result mattered little as 13 people, including children as young as five, lost their lives in a stampede after overzealous police officers fired tear-gas into the stands of the Rufaro Stadium.
The teams met again just 20 days after the events in Harare, this time in a Cosafa Cup semifinal that was won 1-0 by the Zimbabweans in Port Elizabeth, Kaitano Tembo getting the goal.
Bafana won the return fixture in their World Cup qualification campaign on their way to the 2002 finals with a 2-1 home success, Bartlett and Benni McCarthy on the scoresheet, while Peter Ndlovu netted again almost 10 years after his brace in their first match.
Zimbabwe won a Cosafa Cup quarterfinal 1-0 in East London in 2003 as Lazarus Muhoni scored the only goal of the game, before South Africa won 2-1 in a friendly international in 2008 in Germiston.
The sides also clashed in January 2010 in a World Cup warm-up in Durban. Siphiwe Tshabalala, Thulasizwe Mbuyane and Lucas Thwala got the goals for the home side.
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