• Bafana Bafana start their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign against Benin on Saturday at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
• Bafana last qualified for the World Cup on the pitch in 2002.
• While the 1998 and 2002 qualifiers brought out the best of Bafana, the 2014 and 2018 campaigns saw the worst out of SA football.
• For more sports news, go to the News24 Sport front page. 

The FIFA World Cup qualifiers have not been kind to Bafana Bafana. 

In 1998, Joe Mafela and TKZee gave the country two classical songs to celebrate Bafana’s first ever qualification for the global showpiece. The late Mafela got us chanting in excitement about us going to France. The legendary kwaito super group TKZee gave Bafana Bafana striker Benni McCarthy a chance to dazzle with the microphone like he did with the ball. The result was Shibobo. 

But over the years, Bafana have made us sing the blues with failure after failure. In seven attempts to qualify for the global showpiece, Bafana have only been successful two times since readmission in 1992.

The 1998 World Cup marked the ceiling for Bafana who were African champions two years before and finished as runners-up in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) that year. After the 2002 showpiece in South Korea and Japan – things went downhill with the team only qualifying for the 2010 World Cup on the ticket of being the hosts.

As Bafana start another World Cup qualifying campaign on Saturday against Benin, we look at the highs and the lows of the country’s senior football national team. 

HIGHS 

Masinga’s magic

The late Phil Masinga had the legs of a giraffe and the heart of a lion. He was gangly and gritty.

Masinga gave his country some unforgettable moments, even though at times South Africa didn’t appreciate him – with a section of supporters booing Masinga. In the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, Masinga showed his class and killer instinct in front of goals.

The former Leeds United forward scored four of the seven goals Bafana netted in a group the featured the then Zaire (now Congo-Brazzaville), the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. 

Most South Africans remember the last of those four goals, and with good reasons. Bafana hosted Congo at the FNB Stadium on 16 August 1997 in a straight shootout for a ticket to France. Both teams were tied on 10 points after five rounds. Like everything good that happened for Bafana during that period, Doctor Khumalo was at the heart of it. 

But this wasn’t the slick Mntungwa who mesmerised defenders. It was the side of Khumalo that people rarely saw, tracking back and helping his team in defence. Khumalo’s assist was in fact a clearance.

Khumalo made even the ordinary look sublime, the ball followed the Doctor’s instructions to the T. Masinga controlled twice before unleashing a thunderbolt that etched his name in the history books of SA football. It’s the goal that took Bafana to their first ever global showpiece. Thanks to the boot of Masinga, Clive Barker’s fictional plane became real as Bafana flew to the World Cup. 

From chaos to champagne 

The rivalry between Zimbabwe and South Africa in the Cosafa region is a bitter one. While Zimbabwe have plenty of talent, South Africa have resources that are the envy of not only their neighbours but most of Southern Africa. 

Some pundits believe that if Zimbabwe had South Africa’s resources, they would be a continental powerhouse. So, when Bafana faces Zimbabwe – it’s always intense with the strong ties between these two nations that are shaped by South Africa’s strong economy.

It was no different in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers when these two teams were grouped together along with Malawi and Burkina Faso. Guinea were kicked out of the group by FIFA, citing political interferences after three arounds – leading to the annulment of matches they were involved in. 

That left Zimbabwe as the toughest challenge for Bafana in the group, even though Burkina Faso is the one that ended up giving South Africa the hard time. South Africa’s trip to Harare ended in chaos after Delron Buckley completed his brace against the Warriors. 

The home crowd didn’t take the result well, throwing missiles onto the pitch shortly after Buckley’s second goal. Police used teargas to disperse the crowd, leading to two asthmatic Bafana players – Shaun Bartlett and Bradley Carnell – suffering the most during the ugly scenes. 

The match was abandoned and the result stood. But it’s in the return leg where Bafana showed their class and booked a ticket to the 2002 World Cup. Goals from Bartlett and McCarthy saw the side qualify for the World Cup with a game to spare. Peter Ndlovu scored a solitary goal for Zimbabwe from the spot kick, but Bafana held on to reach their second successive World Cup.

LOWS

Parker punishes poor Bafana 

The 2014 World Cup qualifiers are the perfect embodiment of what has gone wrong with Bafana.

Three coaches led Bafana in that campaign. Pitso Mosimane took charge of the first match against Ethiopia and was fired after playing to a 1-1 draw. It wasn’t just that result that led to Mosimane’s sacking. His relationship with the South African Football Association (SAFA) was strained.

At that time, ‘Jingles’ was fighting with everyone – his shadow must also have felt his wrath at some point.

The stain of the dance of shame in Mbombela never left Mosimane. In 2011, Bafana misinterpreted the rules and played for a draw in their last 2012 Afcon qualifying campaign.

Thinking that goal difference was used to separate teams who are tied on points, Bafana celebrated qualification that never was after drawing 0-0 with Sierra Leone when, in fact, head-to-head was the first measure used to separate teams that were tied on points.      

SAFA lodged a futile complaint instead of addressing their failure to read the rules. So, when the 2014 World Cup qualifiers came, Mosimane was under pressure. When he was sacked, Steve Komphela took over in the interim and managed the 1-1 draw with Botswana. Gordon Igesund was then hired on a full-time basis.

The four-time league winner couldn’t work the magic that helped him win the championship with minnows Manning Rangers and Santos. Bernard Parker’s brilliant own goal handed Ethiopia a 2-1 win and crushed Bafana’s spirits.

What made matters worse was that Bafana couldn’t top a group that featured Ethiopia, Botswana and Central African Republic.

Cape Coast capitulation   

Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar because of their poor attack. But if you listen to anyone in the team, they will blame Ghana or Senegalese referee Maguette N’Diaye.

Bafana started the qualifiers well, picking up a point against Zimbabwe in Harare and claiming maximum points against the Black Stars at FNB Stadium. The cornerstone of continental football is not losing away and winning your home matches. Bafana did that well, they won all their home matches, and even beat Ethiopia away.

So far so good. But Bafana being Bafana, they managed to throw away the advantage they had and allowed one of the worst Ghanaian sides to pip them for No 1 position in their group.

Bafana were wasteful in their 1-0 wins over Ghana and Zimbabwe at home. Instead of putting those teams to the sword, they settled for narrow wins that came back to bite them. 

Bafana lost their last group match to Ghana 1-0, leaving both teams tied on 13 points and since this was a World Cup qualifiers and not a CAF event, goal difference was used as the first measure to determine a winner. Both teams were tied on four.

The Black Stars edged Bafana with their superior goals record, scoring just one more goal than the South Africans. 

Instead of doing introspection, the team blamed everyone but themselves and even attempted a futile case to have the match replayed alleging that the match was fixed. FIFA dismissed that complaint and dashed Bafana’s dreams.