South Africa and Uganda will commence their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Friday evening.
These two sides have been drawn into Group K of this competition and they will be joined in this section by Congo and South Sudan, who face off on Thursday.
Match preview
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After several years of underperforming on the international stage, South Africa returned to prominence earlier this year when they finished third in the previous edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast.
Bafana Bafana came second in their group which featured Mali, Namibia and Tunisia, before sending Morocco, the highest-ranked side in the CAF region, packing from the competition with a 2-0 win in the round of 16.
Hugo Broos's side were eventually beaten by arch-rivals Nigeria in the semi-final but went on to overcome the Democratic Republic of Congo in the third-place playoff 6-5 on penalties after the match ended goalless in regulation time.
Since then, South Africa have remained unbeaten, drawing 1-1 against the Super Eagles and beating Zimbabwe 3-1 in World Cup qualifying in June before recording back-to-back draws and a win at the COSAFA Cup later that month.
Excluding the COSAFA Cup and AFCON competitions, Bafana Bafana are unbeaten in their last 12 matches on home soil dating all the way back to a 4-1 defeat to Angola in the African Nations Championship Qualification in September 2022.
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Meanwhile, Uganda are setting off on their journey to return to Africa's premier cup competition for the first time since 2018-19, when they reached the round of 16 before bowing out to Senegal.
During the qualifying campaign for the previous edition of the AFCON, the Cranes finished third in their group with seven points, one point behind Tanzania, who qualified alongside Algeria for the main tournament in the Ivory Coast.
Having missed out on a spot at the competition, Paul Put's side played three friendlies between January and March, splitting the results with a win over Kuwait (2-0), a draw against Ghana (2-2) and a loss to the Comoros (4-0).
It was a similar mixed bag of results for the Cranes during the most recent World Cup qualifiers in June, when they overcame Botswana 1-0 but were beaten from behind 2-1 by Algeria a few days later.
Uganda have faced South Africa four times since their first meeting in 2004, but have lost on all four occasions, with three of the defeats coming in regulation time, while the other was on penalties in the COSAFA Cup in 2019.
Team News
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Broos announced the squad that will feature in the two matches this month and the most notable absentee from the list was captain Ronwen Williams, who was ruled out due to an injury.
In Williams' absence, Ricardo Goss, Veli Mothwa and Sipho Chaine will be competing to start between the sticks, while Mamelodi Sundowns veteran midfielder Themba Zwane will wear the captain's armband.
Paul Put will bring 28 players to Soweto for this opening match of qualifying, but defensive duo Kenneth Semakula and Halid Lwaliwa were left behind due to issues with their Visas.
In terms of injuries, the Cranes are set to be without Allan Kyambadde, Moses Opondo, Uche Ikpeazu and Isak Ssewankambo, while Ismail Watenga, who applies his trade in South Africa for Golden Arrows, is likely to start in goal.
South Africa possible starting lineup:
Goss; Mudau, Ngezana, Mvala, Modiba; Mokoena, Sithole, Zwane, Kekana; Foster, Rayners
Uganda possible starting lineup:
Watenga; Muleme, Mugabi, Lwaliwa, Semakula; Mutyaba, Ssekiganda, Aucho; Mato, Mukwala, Okello
We say: South Africa 1-0 Uganda
South Africa have improved noticeably in the last 12 to 18 months, particularly in defence, as we saw in the Ivory Coast at the start of the year when they kept five clean sheets in seven AFCON matches. We feel the hosts will edge this result while shutting out the Cranes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
