South Africa aim to preserve proud home record in AFCON qualifiers

[p]Bafana Bafana are on a 21-game unbeaten run in home qualifiers for the continental finals, having last lost 1-0 to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nigeria/EBE2Xb3l/"]Nigeria[/a] in 2008.[/p][p]There is a slight caveat to that record, however, as they have won fewer than half of those games, with 10 victories and 11 draws.[/p][p]Their overall home record in AFCON qualifiers stands at 44 matches, with 23 wins, 17 draws and four defeats.[/p][p]Bafana’s other home defeats came against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/zambia/zBS458hb/"]Zambia[/a] in 1992 (0-1), [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ghana/nNBjHale/"]Ghana[/a] in 2005 (0-2) and Zambia again in 2007 (1-3).[/p][p]Their most recent qualifying campaign, for the 2025 finals, was their strongest in terms of wins and goals scored in a six-game group, as they won four and drew two, netting 16 goals and conceding five.[/p][embed guid="3dea1b72-923e-4179-ba39-d926eae398d6" url="https://x.com/BafanaBafana/status/2103713650842247659?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]It was the fifth time they had gone through a qualifying campaign unbeaten, following their achievements in the preliminaries for the 2002, 2004, 2015 and 2019 finals.[/p][p]Bafana have never met Group D rivals [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/guinea/lGDZlkOb/"]Guinea[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kenya/CIAJw1QK/"]Kenya[/a] or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/eritrea/ns8a5zLl/"]Eritrea[/a] in AFCON qualifiers. Their most frequent opponents have been [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/d-r-congo/phn9mm8H/"]Congo[/a], whom they have faced eight times, winning three and drawing five.[/p][p]Their overall qualifying record stands at 87 matches, with 40 wins, 30 draws and 17 defeats. They have scored 123 goals and conceded 75.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tau-percy/lnqr1CRk/"]Percy Tau[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zuma-sibusiso/Wb7CN0af/"]Sibusiso Zuma[/a] share the record for the most goals scored by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-africa/W2ijYvlr/"]South Africa[/a] in AFCON qualifiers, with eight each. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mokoena-teboho/MFTeufFd/"]Teboho Mokoena[/a] is the player in the current squad with the most qualifying goals, having scored four.[/p][infobox id="db74bfd9-cd62-42c7-8f2b-4dfcbe20d17f" /][p]Including both qualifiers and finals, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mccarthy-benni/d4ZZqbQc/"]Benni McCarthy[/a] leads the way with 13 goals, comprising six in qualifying and seven at the finals.[/p][p]South Africa’s biggest qualifying victory was a 6-0 win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/seychelles/v5CBuNe8/"]Seychelles[/a] in Johannesburg in 2018, while their heaviest defeats by margin were 1-4 against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/zimbabwe/APEVkV8h/"]Zimbabwe[/a] in 1992, 0-3 against Zambia in 1993 and 0-3 against Ghana in 2004.[/p][p]South Africa’s longest unbeaten sequence in qualifiers alone was 13 consecutive matches from June 1999 to June 2004. It began with a 2-0 victory over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/mauritius/tpBfGJ31/"]Mauritius[/a] and ended with a 3-0 defeat to Ghana in Kumasi.[/p][p]Bafana are currently on a nine-game unbeaten run in AFCON qualifiers.[/p][p] [/p][infobox id="584d9683-f419-4696-8cb3-c155213092a0" /]