Afcon enters crunch time

All eyes will be on hosts South Africa in their biggest test of character – a bone-crushing duel with West Africans Mali, in the first quarter-final pairing of the 2013 Afcon.

The last time the two sides met was in the same stage of the tournament in 2002, which The Eagles won 2-0 on home soil, goals from Bassala Touré and Dramane Coulibaly sending South Africa out of the tournament eventually won by Cameroon.

As Mali ensured qualification from Group B Monday night, after a 1-1 draw with the DR Congo, they now come head-on with the hosts in a sold-out match to be played at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday evening.

Revenge is usually not publicly acknowledged in soccer, but that is one word surely written in the minds of all South Africans, as Gordon Igesund’s men seek a reversal of an “imbalance” created in Bamako 11 years ago.

A lot has changed since then, although Seydou Keita remains Mali’s best player, just as he was in the 2002 duel. Defender Adama Coulibaly is the only other survivor of that squad, while South Africa carry new faces.

Mali go into this tie, which kicks off at 7pm, as the third-best team in Africa and rank 25th in the world, while Bafana Bafana are 22 places down the pecking order in the continent and a massive 60 places down the ladder in the world.

When the two sides met in 2002, not only were the star-studied South Africans one of the powerhouses of the continental game – they were also one of the favourites to lift the crown. They had been crowned continental champions on home soil three editions before and ended second and third in the last two editions.

Yet when they met on February 3, 2002, the Malians used home ground advantage to upset the apple cart and send the 1996 champions reeling.

The South Africa of that generation, although heavy with big names like Sibusiso Zuma, Siyabonga Nomvethe, Thabo Mngomeni, Delron Buckley, Eric Tinkler and Benni McCarthy, had failed to score in their first two games – against Burkina Faso and Ghana, but turned on the hit against Morocco, whom they hammered 3-1 in the last group game, to ease through to the quarter-finals.

Coincidentally, it was Morocco who the South Africans met in their last group game this year – in a high-scoring game that also produced four goals, albeit for a 2-2 draw. As they meet Mali again on February 3, it remains to be seen if Igesund’s boys will also use home ground advantage and correct where Carlos Queiroz’s boys blundered 11 years ago.

A dream of making it past the Eagles means that Bafana Bafana have to put in a much improved display against a side out to build on their third place showing at last year’s finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Make no mistake, South Africa still have players that can win them the game against a hardly convincing Mali side that won only one game, drew one and lost the other in Group B. Star goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune, defensive midfielders Kagisho Dikgacoi, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Dean Furman, attacking link, May Mahlangu, wingers Siphiwe Tshabalala and Thuso Phala are some of those Igesund will be counting on to deliver the goods.

There is also defender Siyabonga Sangweni, hero in the draw against Morocco, who has scored twice in the tournament so far – and when it mattered most for SA, captain, Bongani Khumalo, strikers Benard Parker and Lehlohonolo Majoro, to count on. On the other hand, Ghana are favourites to cruise past Cape Verde Islands at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, after the 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-finalists cemented their favourites tag with a 3-0 beating of Niger in their last group B match.

The Black Stars have scored six goals in three matches so far and should make lightweight of the minnows, surprise package so far, who were not that convincing in the three games they played in Group A.