Fresh from their run to the quarter-finals of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, Bafana Bafana drew Ghana in the qualifying rounds for the 2021 edition in Cameroon on Thursday.
Stuart Baxter’s South African team surprised everybody by firstly getting out of their group in Cairo, and then beating Egypt in the last-16 to go through to the quarter-finals.
But in a lacklustre display last week Wednesday, Bafana went down 2-1 following a late goal by William Troost-Ekong.
They will have to make their way through Group C in qualifying for the 2021 tournament by getting past Ghana, Sudan and the winner of a playoff between Mauritius and Sao Tome e Principe.
In their last clash against Ghana, Bafana lost 2-1 at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equitorial Guinea.
But the Black Stars were dumped out of the 2019 event in a 5-4 penalty shoot-out defeat to Tunisia, after the match ended 1-1 following extra time.
Finalists Senegal will face Congo, Guinea-Bissau and eSwatini in the 2021 qualifiers, and their opponents on Friday night, Algeria, have drawn Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The 2021 group stage qualifying will begin in November.
2021 Afcon qualifying groups
Group A: Mali, Guinea, Namibia, Liberia/Chad
Group B: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan/Seychelles
Group C: Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Mauritius/Sao Tome e Principe
Group D: DR Congo, Gabon, Angola, Djibouti/The Gambia
Group E: Morocco, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Burundi
Group F: Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique, Rwanda
Group G: Egypt, Kenya, Togo, Comoros Islands
Group H: Algeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana
Group I: Senegal, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, eSwatini
Group J: Tunisia, Libya, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea
Group K: Ivory Coast, Niger, Madagascar, Ethiopia
Group L: Nigeria, Benin, Sierra Leone, Lesotho
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/TotalAFCON2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TotalAFCON2021qualifiers ✨ pic.twitter.com/gcdy9ahiUr
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