Now SA believe Afcon title is there for the taking

Bafana Bafana’s impressive 2-0 victory over Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) last 16 has left midfielder Teboho Mokoena convinced that they have what it takes to go all the way and win the title in Ivory Coast.

Bafana stunned the No.1-ranked team on the continent on Tuesday at Laurent Pokou Stadium to book a place in the quarterfinal, where they will face Cape Verde on Saturday (10pm).

Mokoena, who produced a world-class performance and scored the second goal to seal the win after Evidence Makgopa had given Bafana the lead, said they have worked hard to be where they are after losing the opening match to Mali.

“No one gave us a chance after the first game when we lost to Mali but we came back strong and we improved. We worked very hard to be where we are now,” Mokoena, who walked away with the man of the match award, told the media during the post-match press conference.

“We will take one game at a time because, in this tournament, no one can say they are going to win it. The top five teams in Africa are all out, so it’s up to us or other teams to take the trophy.

“In 2019 we reached the quarterfinals, so it is not a surprise to South Africans. We must take a step higher because we must take the national team to a better place. That’s our aim and goal as a team and we will see.”

Mokoena, 27, also explained where they got it right against Morocco after they frustrated them in the first half when they didn’t even have a shot on target.

“We knew Morocco are very strong on the side, they overload the side and we dealt with that and we closed their game plan because their centre-backs didn’t know where to pass the ball,” he said.

“I’m very happy to have won man of the match. We worked hard as a team. It was not easy but we worked as a team.”

Bafana will look to show more of the same performance when they meet surprise package Cape Verde in the quarterfinal on Saturday.