South Africa, DR Congo Set For Bronze AFCON Battle
South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo will be looking to bow out in style in the third place Bronze match of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), on Saturday at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Both sides were knocked out of the title race during the semi-finals where Bafana Bafana were edged 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Nigeria, while DR Congo lost 1-0 to hosts Cote d’Ivoire.
While both sides will be disappointed with the semi-final exit, the third and fourth place play off presents the perfect opportunity for either side to go home with the consolation of being the third best team of the competition.
🇿🇦 South Africa 🆚 DR Congo 🇨🇩
🏟 Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny
🏆 #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 3rd place match.
🕗 20:00 GMTWhich team goes home with a medal? 🥉#RSARDC pic.twitter.com/rGmX0jCx65
— CAF (@CAF_Online) February 10, 2024
Bafana Bafana of South Africa
South Africa head coach, Hugo Broos, said the fight for a bronze medal in the Africa Cup of Nations, tagged Cote d’Ivoire 2023, will be more of a mental battle than anything.
According to the Belgian tactician, who guided South Africa to their first semi-final since 2000, the key to clinching a third place will be in how they mentally recover from the heart-breaking semi-final loss.
“We played a very good game against Nigeria. It was a great performance and we showed that we are a great team again,” Broos said.
“When you exit after 120 minutes, it’s always a huge disappointment,” he added. “When you play so good, the disappointment is so big.”
“The game tomorrow is special. It depends a bit on which team will be mentally recovered because also for DRC, it was difficult to lose like that.”
The Leopards of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo defender, Dylan Batubinsika called on his teammates to stay calm ahead of their third-place playoff game against South Africa, as they seek to put the regrets of a semi-final exit to one side and go in search of a bronze medal against South Africa.
After a remarkable run at the AFCON in Côte d’lvoire the DR Congo lost in the semi-finals to hosts Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday evening at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe.
For defender Dylan Batubinsika, there are reasons for him and his team-mates to be disappointed by the defeat, given what the Leopards have offered since the start of the competition.
“We’ll be disappointed for a while because we had the potential to go all the way,” Batubinsika said at a press conference. “I think we have a mixture of feelings with the elimination, but our ambition is to go and get this medal.”
“We have to stay mobilised to at least finish in third place. We have to be proud of what we’ve done so far, we’ve had a great run, we would have liked to go all the way but that wasn’t the case.”
The South Africa Vs DR Congo match will be played on Saturday 10 February 2024 at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan, at 09:00pm (WAT).
