Bafana Bafana could find themselves in a group from hell along with Ghana, Algeria and Senegal when the Africa Cup of Nations draw is conducted in Equatorial Guinea tonight.
Alternatively, Shakes Mashaba’s resurrected senior national squad might be lucky and be drawn to contest the round robin phase of next year’s continental showpiece against the hosts, Burkina Faso and Congo Brazzaville.
Those are the worst and best possible draws for South Africa after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) yesterday released the seeding for the draw that saw Bafana placed in Pot C with Cape Verde, Cameroon and Gabon.
The top seeded countries are the home side, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Zambia, while last year’s finalists Burkina Faso, third-placed finishers in the previous two editions, Mali, Tunisia and Algeria are all in Pot B.
The supposed weaklings – Guinea Conakry, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville – in a tournament that has no less than six potential champions are in Pot D.
With Mashaba having said that Bafana owed their recent resurrection to prayers from the country’s people, the coach will no doubt hope that South Africans get on their knees ahead of the draw to plead for a favourable grouping.
While it is generally agreed that avoiding the home team is always best, such is the strength of the teams in Pot A that drawing an Equatorial Guinea outfit that was kicked out of the qualifiers would be welcomed.
Bafana beat them 1-0 in an Afcon qualifier in Malabo back in 2008 and drew goalless in Bata ahead of the 2012 Afcon.
Ghana are a renowned strong side who are always among the favourites to lift the trophy and are best avoided early on.
While Bafana beat Ivory Coast at the weekend, the Elephants side at the finals will be a completely different, much stronger one.
Zambia are definitely much improved from last year, but not as good as when they won the tournament two years ago in Equatorial Guinea/Gabon. But they will provide stiffer opposition than the home side.
Algeria had a fine qualifying round when they won five of their six matches, their only loss coming in the final game against Mali when they had long since qualified. That their star player Yacine Brahimi of Porto was on Monday voted BBC African Player of the Year, beating Yaya Toure and Vincent Enyeama to the gong, tells how dangerous the Desert Foxes will be.
Tunisia are also sure to be hard to get past.
In Pot D, Senegal appear the toughest of the lot, their disappointing performance in the last tournament notwithstanding.
Bafana won four points from Congo Brazzaville in the qualifiers and will be pleased to draw Claude Le Roy’s team. - The Star