AFCON 2025: South Africa bow out at last-16 as Cameroon book spot in quarter-finals
by Devesh Jaganath | by Devesh Jaganath
Defensive lapses and wasteful finishing seal Bafana’s fate
South Africa took their final bow at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday night, after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Cameroon at the Al Medina Stadium in Rabat, which confirmed our AFCON 2025 predictions for the clash.
Bafana Bafana started the game the brighter of the teams and carved out three clear-cut chances inside the opening 30 minutes, which would have wrapped up the tie early on, but they were unable to convert them.
After weathering the early pressure, Cameroon began to settle into the match and took the lead in the 34th minute through defender Junior Tchamadeu, before Christian Kofane doubled their advantage two minutes after the restart in the second half.
Bafana were guilty of sloppy defending for both goals, something that Hugo Broos had mentioned was his major concern during the group stage, when they failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their three games.
To their credit, the 2023 AFCON bronze medalists did not throw in the towel and dominated proceedings across the final 20 minutes of the match. Evidence Mkgopa pulled one back in the 87th minute to restore some hope, but they were unable to find the crucial equaliser.
With the result, Cameroon became the fourth team to clinch their spot in the quarter-final of the competition, and they will face either Nigeria or Mozambique on January 10. South Africa will return home later on Monday evening to commence preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Broos faces tough questions after Bafana’s AFCON elimination
In the aftermath of the defeat, head coach Hugo Broos faced some sharp questioning by the media in his post-match press conference. Asked if he felt that the team are moving backwards after finishing third in the Ivory Coast and bowing out at the round of 16 this year, he said:
“No, we are not going backwards. Okay, I agree with you that maybe some games the performances were not at the level of South Africa that everybody knows, but you can't say that for today.”
Ahead of the match, Broos had criticised Morocco as the host nation of the tournament, mentioning that the atmosphere at stadiums was not in keeping with the norm of previous Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Those comments were widely deemed controversial, and reporters suggested that it may have been a contributing factor to the team’s performance in the last 16, as the local fans in attendance at the Al Medina Stadium were clearly on the Cameroonian side.
