Sundowns Stars Help Home-grown South Africa Rise At Cup Of Nations

Abidjan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Feb, 2024) While most teams at the Africa Cup of Nations rely heavily on players based in Europe, South Africa stand out in having an almost entirely home-based squad with coach Hugo Broos leaning heavily on the Mamelodi Sundowns side that dominates domestically.

Ten members of the Bafana Bafana squad preparing to take on Cape Verde in the quarter-finals in Ivorian capital Yamoussoukro on Saturday have come from Sundowns, the Pretoria club nicknamed the Brazilians.

Eight started in the 2-0 win over Morocco in the last 16, including captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, and the outstanding midfielder Teboho Mokoena, who scored their second goal.

The only other competing nation that really came close was Egypt, but they still had a significant sprinkling of foreign-based stars beyond talisman Mohamed Salah.

It is something that gives South Africa coach Broos an obvious advantage over many of his counterparts, who saw most of their players leave their clubs in the middle of the European season and have just a few days to train together before the AFCON began.

"When you watch these guys play you can tell they have been playing together for a while," former Cameroon defender Aurelien Chedjou, who played under Broos for the Indomitable Lions, told broadcaster Canal Plus Afrique.

"They can find each other almost with their eyes closed and that makes a difference."

The veteran Belgian Broos, who turns 72 in April, is now hoping to lead South Africa into the AFCON semi-finals for the first time since they finished third in 2000.

It is quite a turnaround from their inability to even qualify for the last Cup of Nations, a failure which led to Broos being appointed.