After an agonizing penalty shoot exit in the Africa Cup of Nations semi finals South Africa end their tournament with a third place play off clash with DR Congo on Saturday
South Africa
Despite losing their first group match of the tournament Bafana stepped up to the plate and made it all the way to the semi finals where they lost to Nigeria on spot kicks after a 1-1 draw. After falling behind from the penalty spot in the second half Teboho Mokoena levelled things up against the Super Eagles with a late penalty of his own, extra time failed to produce a goal although Grant Kekana picked up a red card but Nigeria converted 4 of their 5 spot kicks and Bafana missed 2 of their 4.
After qualifying for the knockout rounds with a defeat to Mali (2-0) a thrashing of Namibia (4-0) and a hard earned draw with Tunisia (0-0) Bafana pulled off an upset result with a 2-0 win over much fancied Morocco. That set up a quarter final clash with Cape Verde and the game finished without a goal before keeper Ronwen Williams saved 4 Cape Verde spot kicks in a nervy shoot out which Bafana won 2-1.
DR Congo
DR Congo went down 1-0 to rejuvenated host nation Ivory Coast in the second of Wednesday's semi finals. Sebastien Haller scored the only goal of the game for the Elephants in the second half and there was to be no way back for DR Congo.
In earlier knockout rounds DR Congo knocked out Egypt in a penalty shoot out after a 1-1 draw and they were were 3-1 winners over Guinea in the quarter finals, their only victory acheieved in regulation time.
DR Congo drew all 3 of their group matches and finished as runners up to Morocco. There were few thrills although they performed well to play out a 1-1 draw with a powerful Morocco team either side of another 1-1 draw with Zambia and a 0-0 stalemate with Tanzania.
The Betting
South Africa are currently trading at around 9/4 to win the game with the draw at 9/4 and DR Congo are priced at around 13/10
A game of 3 goals or more in total is priced at 13/10 and it's around even money for both teams to score.
Note, odds quoted are for regulation time and are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Verdict:
I find it tough to call these 3rd place play off matches at any major finals, guessing which team is best placed to cope with disappointment, who is hungrier for the win, will coaches rotate? It's a conundrum for sure.
Aside from who comes out on top, will we see goals with the pressure off? Well last season Burkina Faso were 3-0 up against Cameroon but it finished 3-3 and went to spot kicks whilst in 2019 Nigeria edged out Tunisia 1-0 with an early goal. No clues there then.
As far as head to heads are concerned last year Bafana edged an international friendly between the sides 1-0 but recent meetings are few and far between.
After much thought I will settle on a speculative any time goalscorer pick and Teboho Mokeana gets the vote.
Bets: Anytime goalscorer Teboho Mokeana at 69/10 with BoyleSports
Note, odds quoted are for regulation time and are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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