South Africa secured second place in Group B of the Africa Cup of Nations and thus follows Egypt into the round of 16. In a direct duel against Zimbabwe, Bafana Bafana narrowly won 3-2—with some of the goals on both sides coming about in curious fashion.
With three points from their first two games, South Africa had the better starting position ahead of their final group game against Zimbabwe – a win would mean they would advance to the round of 16 on their own. And the start of the game also played into South Africa’s hands. A shot from Moremi was unfortunately deflected by Zimbabwe’s left-back Lunga and flew in a high arc over keeper Arubi and into the net (7th minute).
Zimbabwe did not let this deter them, however, and equalized through Maswanhise, who finished off a strong solo run after a pass from Aue player Fabisch (19′). The score remained 1-1 at half-time. After the break, South Africa took the lead again. Foster ran onto a slightly short header from Lunga towards his goalkeeper and got to the ball a fraction earlier than Arubi, who had hesitated for a moment as he came off his line (50′).
Curious own goal followed by handball penalty
However, Zimbabwe struck back again – and this goal was also quite curious. After a great deep pass from Chirewa, Maswanhise initially failed to beat South African goalkeeper Williams, but the ball bounced off Modiba’s chest and into his own goal in ping-pong fashion (73′). Zimbabwe was unable to capitalize on this, however, as Nakamba committed a handball shortly afterwards while attempting to clear a shot with his head as he fell. After VAR intervention, a penalty was awarded, which Appollis converted.
The final score remained 3-2 to South Africa, who will now face the second-placed team in Group F in the round of 16 on Sunday (8 p.m.) – that will be either Cameroon, Ivory Coast or Mozambique.
