Football
Nick Said, Special to ESPN 7y

Rollercoaster ride for Bafana Bafana as they mark 25 years

South Africa's return to international football came on a rainy night in Durban exactly 25 years ago when they hosted Cameroon in the first game of a hastily arranged three-match tour.

It was the release of future South African president Nelson Mandela that precipitated the return of the country's sports to the international arena, a considerable time before the nation's political structure was overhauled.

Football was among the first sports to be banned because of the country's apartheid policies, but once Mandela had been released, and the transformation process got underway, the process of reintegrating South Africa into the FIFA fold went quickly.

At the FIFA Congress in Zurich in early July 1992, South Africa's membership was restored, and within days the country had entered the rigours of international competition.

Although the Cameroon side bore little resemblance to the team that two years earlier had captivated the world en route to a World Cup quarterfinal spot at Italia 90, the likes of Roger Milla, Jacob Ewane and Jules-Denis Onana gave South Africa a tough insight into the rigours of the modern international game.

The three-match series was shared with a win apiece and a draw in the last game at Soccer City.

South Africa displayed their naivety and a tactical immaturity, but matched the tough Cameroonians, whose physical strength was key to their game, in terms of technical ability.

That first game on July 7, 1992 at Durban's King's Park Rugby Stadium was won 1-0 by the home team, with Doctor Khumalo Bafana Bafana's first international goalscorer when he netted a generously awarded penalty after 82 minutes.

It would be the start of a rollercoaster ride for the national team that has seen them crowned continental champions, take their place among the heavyweights of the continent, and then steadily slip into the mediocrity that has plagued the side for the last 15 years.

However, their immediate return to competitive matches was a harrowing experience as the side that had no international experience found the quality of the African game much higher than their domestic competition.

The country's first World Cup qualification game was away in Lagos, where a capacity crowd of some 60,000 watched Bafana Bafana devastated 4-0 in a one-sided rout that should have actually could have been even more humiliating had it not been for the erratic shooting of the Super Eagles strikers.

They went through a succession of early coaches, as the team struggled to find their feet, until the appointment of Clive Barker in March 1994.

He steadied their squad, made them a hard-working, organised side who a little under two years later would be crowned African champions on home soil after hosting the tournament as a replacement for Kenya.

Members of that side, such as Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, Shaun Bartlett, Eric Tinkler and others were either already established at overseas clubs, or would go on to shine in the top leagues in Europe.

Barker qualified the side for their first World Cup finals in 1998, but was sacked six months before the tournament, with the reins handed to Frenchman Phillipe Troussier.

In early 1998, the side narrowly failed to defend their African Cup of Nations title when they were beaten 2-0 in the final by Egypt, with caretaker coach Jomo Sono in charge.

They received a rude awakening in their first World Cup game, well beaten 3-0 by hosts and eventual champions France, but were unlucky not to beat Denmark in a 1-1 draw, and then drew their final game 2-2 with Saudi Arabia, and a first-round exit followed.

Bafana picked up the bronze medal at the 2000 Nations Cup, and qualified again for the World Cup two years later.

They picked up a first win with a 1-0 success over Slovenia, after they had drawn 2-2 with Paraguay, but a 3-2 loss to Spain in their final pool game meant there would be no second-round place.

It was at this point that the nation began its steady decline.

Bafana were ousted in the quarterfinals of the 2002 Nations Cup, could only make the first round in 2004, 2006 and 2008, before failing to qualify completely for the 2010 and 2012 events.

They made the finals in 2013 by virtue of their host status, but lost to Mali in the quarterfinals, and only managed to come through a qualification campaign when they reached the 2015 tournament, although they struggled at the tournament itself and went out in the first round.

The fallen giants failed to qualify again in 2017, and also missed out on the World Cups of 2006 and 2014, qualifying for the 2010 tournament as hosts, but going on to become the first country in the history of the tournament to exit their own tournament in the first round, despite a 2-1 win over France in their final game.

Finally, after these years in the doldrums, there are signs of a renaissance.

They are well-placed in their World Cup qualification pool, and home and away wins against a Cape Verde side in freefall in August and September would leave them well placed to reach Russia from a pool that also contains Senegal and Burkina Faso.

And they started their latest Nations Cup qualification campaign with a 2-0 victory in Nigeria, a first ever away win against the Super Eagles, in a match in which they also hit the post twice and were denied a stonewall penalty.

These are indications, at least, that the next decade could be a lot brighter than the last.

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