Bafana Bafana and Libya face an anxious final Afcon qualifier match day as they look to book their place in the finals later this year
The final group matches of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers are upon us and Group E is still wide open.
2013 African champions, Nigeria, have already qualified for the tournament in Egypt, while both South Africa and Libya still have a lot of work to do.
Bafana Bafana and Libya clash in a crucial match in Tunisia on Sunday, and Goal takes a look at the permutations for either side to seal their qualification to the 2019 Afcon finals.
Stuart Baxter’s men are currently sitting on nine points from five qualifying matches, while Libya are just two points behind in the third position.
As things stand, Bafana Bafana need at least a point against Libya to qualify for the tournament, while a win over Libya would be a bonus for the South Africans.
Mind you, South Africa failed to qualify for the 2017 Afcon tournament while they also missed out on the 2018 Fifa World Cup finals in Russia under the tutelage of Baxter.
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This means there’s more pressure on Baxter and his technical team to qualify this time around, especially after SA’s junior and women’s national teams did well to fly the South African flag high.
Bafana have lost just five times away from home in Afcon qualifying games since their re-admission to international football in 1992.
However, their failure to beat Seychelles on the road means anything is possible against a Libyan side that nearly stunned the Super Eagles of Nigeria earlier in the campaign.
Libya know that anything less than a win will not be enough to seal their passage. A win would see Libya leapfrog Bafana into the second position with 10 points.
Libya whose two losses came against Nigeria would want to put in a solid shift and make sure that they don’t disappoint their fans, especially after starting the current campaign so well with a 5-1 demolition of Seychelles.
The same can be said about Bafana, who began their campaign with a bang, beating Nigeria 2-0 away from home.
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Publish date : 2023-09-19 03:00:00
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