Lucas Radebe and Salomon Kalou during the AFCON 2023 qualifiers group stage draw at SuperSport Studio, Randburg on Tuesday. (Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix)
After not qualifying for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, Bafana Bafana will once again go on a quest to try to qualify for the next tournament, which is the 2023 edition.
The South Africans were drawn in Group K, where they will go up against Liberia, neighbours Zimbabwe and Morocco for a place in next year’s tournament.
The draw for the qualifiers was held in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Bafana will feel confident about qualifying for the 2023 Afcon because they are facing familiar opponents, except for Liberia, whom they haven’t faced in a long time.
South Africa played Zimbabwe last year during the World Cup qualifiers and were able to win at home and played a draw in the return leg.
Morocco are the highest ranked team in the group and reached the quarterfinals of the last Afcon where they were beaten by Egypt.
Morocco and South Africa last played in 2019 during the qualifiers of the 2021 Afcon, with the North Africans winning the two-legged tie 1-0.
Bafana missed out on the 1994, 2010, 2012, 2017 and the 2021 (which was postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic) editions and they will be looking to be in Ivory Coast when the tournament is played in June next year.
Group K:
Morocco
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Liberia