Menzi Magubane
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed that Zimbabwe and Kenya will not be part of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.
This means Bafana will do battle with only Morocco and Libya in the qualifiers and Hugo Broos’s side now have a much easier path to qualification.
Zimbabwe and Kenya are serving Fifa bans and are not supposed to participate in any international football competitions.
Both countries were included by CAF in the next year’s Afcon draw last month in Johannesburg but Fifa decided to punish the respective associations for corruption and harassment through government interference.
Zimbabwe were drawn against Bafana Bafana, Libya and Morocco in Group K.
The last time Bafana competed at Afcon was in 2019 in Egypt. Bafana did not qualify for the Afcon that was held in Cameroon early this year.
They also failed to qualify for this year’s Fifa World Cup to be held in Qatar in November.
Bafana lost out to Ghana who made it to the tournament after beating Nigeria in the play-offs.
Broos and his boys will begin their qualifying matches early next month when they take on the Moroccans.
Pressure will mount on Broos if he fails to lead them to the Afcon. Bafana supporters won’t easily accept it if Broos and his players fail to qualify again especially after the Zimbabwe removal.
Taking Bafana to the Afcon is one of Broos’s negotiated objectives with the South African Football Association – the other is to take the team to the next World Cup.
Image source: @eNCA
