Bafana Bafana's COSAFA Cup semi-final hopes are hanging by a tenuous thread

Bafana Bafana injected fresh hope into their 2025 COSAFA Cup aspirations with a decisive 2–0 victory over Zimbabwe at the Toyota Stadium on Saturday. This pivotal win marked a milestone, as it was the first time South Africa had triumphed against their neighbours in this competition.

However, it may still not be enough for Bafana Bafana to reach the semi-finals.

The victory lifted Bafana Bafana to second place in Group A, currently sitting on three points, just one point behind leaders Mozambique. With only the group winners advancing to the knockout stages, the final round of matches on Tuesday will determine who progresses.

South Africa (on three points) will face a winless Mauritius, while Mozambique (on four) will take on another winless side, Zimbabwe. A win for Bafana Bafana would provide a glimmer of hope, but if Mozambique also secure victory, South Africa will fall short once again.

Following the match, coach Vela Khumalo underlined the importance of the result.

“Most definitely, this victory is the boost that we needed. We are still hopeful, and we are saying Mozambique still have to defeat Zimbabwe, then we will know our fate,” he said.

“What we set out for ourselves is that we need to win the remaining game in the group stages. We need to win against Mauritius, and then we take it from there with the six points and see what happens.”

Despite the win, Khumalo was candid about his team’s performance in the early stages of the match.

“We did not start the match very well, and we are still missing a lot of chances that we should be converting into goals,” he acknowledged.

However, he expressed optimism about the overall performance.

“But we were very positive that we were going to at least get goals out of this, win the game, and move forward. The pressure is always there when you play football.”

Khumalo emphasised that the result came from hard work and strategy, not luck.

“This win was not a fluke; these are the things that we have done in the training sessions. After our analysis, we set things up and worked on it. It was not something coming out of nowhere,” he explained.

The earlier 1–0 defeat to Mozambique in their opening Group A match may yet prove costly. In the meantime, Khumalo must rally his squad into a cohesive unit capable of delivering a strong performance on Tuesday.

"His primary focus will be improving their conversion rate in front of goal," he concluded.