AFCON Is Now Usually Played Every Two Years In The Summer. This Year, The Final Concluded In February 2024, Although It Started Last Summer As AFCON 2023. Extreme Ivory Coast Heat Meant That It Was Postponed To The Coming Cooler Months of January And February 2024.
Comment: This Potentially Provides A Great Opportunity To Examine Global Warming From A Very Interesting African Perspective. Hopefully African Scientists Can Seize This Opportunity To Examine How Climate Change Effects All Areas of Life In The African Contintent. Africa’s Voice In The Climate Debate Could Then Become More Prominent.
South Africa’s Bronze Medal Win Seems Particularly Poignant As South Africa, Along With Sudan, Egypt And Ethiopia Was One of The Original Four Founding Nations of AFCON In February 1957. Ironically It Was Later Disqualified Because It Refused To Allow Black Players In The National Team Due To Its Racist Political Policy of Apartheid. Interestingly Now The Manager, Hugo Broos, Is White, And All The Players Are Black.
SA Actually Hosted AFCON 1996, Winning On Home Soil (Against Tunisia). It Was The 20th Edition of The Tournament.
She Went On To Reach The Finals Again In 1998.
And The 2000 Semi-Finals.
South Africa’s Strong Performance In The Semi-Final Against Nigeria (Which Saw Nigeria Ultimately Win On Penalties And Reach The Final), Has, In Post Match Analysis of Nigeria’s Loss In The Final To Ivory Coast, Been Held Up By Many Commentators As An Indication That Nigeria Needed To Up It’s Game Then, As South African Came Close To Defeating Them In That Semi-Final Match.
But They Did Not Beat Them And DRC (The Democratic Republic of Congo) Did Not Beat Ivory Coast In Their Semi-Final Match Either, Which Is How RSA (The Republic of South Africa) Came To Be Playing DRC In The Bronze Medal Playoffs For Third Place. Full Time: DRC 0 – RSA 0. Penalties: DRC 5 – RSA 6
That They Won It Is Further Irony As Manager Hugo Broos Had Previously Said In A Pre-Match Press Conference That He Did Not See The Point of Playing For The Bronze Medal. Fortunately The Two Team Members Speaking In The Above VT (With Beautiful African Singing By The Team In The Background) Had A Much More Positive Attitude, Including Striker Teboho Mckoena. He Pointed Out That The Last Time RSA Reached The Final Was 2000 (Nearly A Quarter Century Ago).
“I Think We Showed Good Character And A Positive Attitude.
See, All The Guys Are Happy.
I Think We Deserve It”.
One of The South African Teammembers And AFCON 2023 Bronze Medal Winners
“I Have A Good Feeling!”
Hugo Broos, Bafana Bafana Manager
January 6th 2024‘ Preparing With The Team In Stellenbosch, SA, For AFCON 23′
The South African Football Association
The Bafana Bafana (Boys, Boys)
Starting 11 With A 5-4-1 Formation:
[Manager – Hugo Broos]
No.1 Williams (Goalkeeper)
No. 4 Mokoena *
No. 5 Xulu
No. 6 Modiba
No. 9 Makgopa
No. 10 Tau
No. 11 Zwane
No.13 Sithole
No, 14 Mvala
No.18 Kekoena
No. 20 Mudau
The Federation Congalaise de Football Association (FECOFA) fecofa-rdc.com
The Leopards of DR Congo
Starting 11 With A 4-3-3-1 Formation:
[Manager – sebastiendesabre.com]
No. 1 Mpasi (Goalkeeper)
No. 2 Inonga
No..8 Moutoussamy
No.13 Elia
No. 14 Kakuta
No.17 Bakambu
No. 18 Pickel
No. 20 Wissa
No. 22 Mbemba
No. 24 Kalulu
No. 26 Masuaku
The South African Football Team Known As ‘Bafana Bafana’ (Boys Boys) Were Named Team of The Tourmament. Official Acknowledgement That They Displayed The Most Sportsmanship, Lack of Fouls, Foulplay, Ill-Temper, Fake Injuries, Disputes, Red Cards, Yellow Cards, Sanctions Such As Corners, Free Kicks or Penalties To The Other Side And Timewasting. The Boys Boys Are Bona Fide Gentlemen! Teboho MoKoena And His Team’s Graceful Acceptance of The Bronze Medal Absolutely Reflects This (As In The Video Above).
After Ronwen Williams Famously Saved Shot After Shot At Goal During The Match And Four Penalty Kicks During The Penalty Shoot Out In RSA’s Game Against Cape Verde In The Quarter Finals On Saturday February 3rd 2024, To Make It To Semi-Finals Against Nigeria On Wednesday February 7th, South Africa Won The Bronze Medal In The Third Place Playoffs In Their Ultimate 6-5 Penalty Victory, Over The Democratic Republic of Congo, On Saturday February 10th 2024′ At AFCON 2023.
Again This Was Another Match Involving South Africa Where AFCON Fans Saw Shot, After Shot, After Shot At Goal With None Going In. But Due To The Keenness of Both Teams Which Indeed Spectacularly Created Shot, After Shot, After Shot, It Was Both Exhilarating And Frustrating In Equal Measure. This Was Only Surpassed By The Fact That The Game Then Went Into Penalties. There Were Alot. And It Was Close!
Prior To The RSA Defeating The DRC And Ronwen Williams @ronwen3 Being Crowned Goalkeeper of The Tournament At The AFCON 2023 Medal Ceremony Williams Led His Team Out To The Field of Play With Some Awesome African Dancing. It Seemed To Have Worked Its Magic For Them In Terms of Stirring Their Emotions, Lifting Their Spirits, And Letting The Field of Play Know They Were on Their Way And On Top of Their Game Because They Went On To Win The Match And The Medal!
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