Egypt's Mohamed Salah pictured during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 match between against Bafana Bafana.
Image: Ozan Kose / AFP
Bafana Bafana were drawn against Egypt in Group B ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco at the end of this year.
The group also includes Zimbabwe and Angola, but it's the clash between the seven-time African champions and their array of stars, such as Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and new Manchester City attacker Omar Marmoush, that has the pulses racing.
Unsurprisingly, Egypt have the upper hand in the head-to-head stakes between the two teams at Afcon, with the Pharaohs winning two out of their previous three meetings at the tournament.
However, Egypt will probably never forget the one occasion when they got unstuck against the South Africans. That wound is still very fresh.
IOL Sport's John Goliath looks back at those matches between the two teams.
1996 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa
The defeat against Egypt was Bafana's only defeat on their way to winning the continental showpiece on home soil. Ahmed El-Kass scored the only goal of the match at the FNB Stadium in the seventh minute. Despite the defeat, Bafana still managed to top the group, avoiding the dangerous Zambia. Bafana went on to beat Algeria in the quarter-finals, Ghana in the semis and Tunisia in the final.
1998 Africa Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso
Benni McCarthy's seven goals powered Bafana in their second consecutive Afcon final when Burkina Faso hosted the tournament two years later. However, they faced an Egyptian team led by the formidable Hossam Hassan, who had six goals entering the final. In the end, Hassan had the final say, scoring his seventh goal of the tournament in the 2-0 win over Bafana to help Egypt lift the trophy.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations draw
Image: CAF
2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt
In perhaps the most famous and recent encounter, Bafana knocked out Egypt from the 2019 Afcon on Egyptian soil. The round of 16 match ended 1–0 in favour of the South Africans, with Thembinkosi Lorch scoring the only goal of the match and silencing the partisan crowd. Bafana, however, would be knocked out by Nigeria in the quarter-finals before missing out on the 2021 edition.
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