The harsh ramifications now attached to Bafana...

The consequences of Bafana Bafana’s failure to collect all three points at home against Kenya could be far reaching with the blink of an eye.

Bafana were held by the Harambee Stars on Friday after they wasted numerous chances to kill off this qualifier at Orlando Amstel Arena.

While the two wins in opening the group had cleared the qualification path, the draw against Kenya now makes it awkward.

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Two of the three games remaining for Pitso Mosimane’s men are away.

First is the four-hour flight to Nairobi to play Kenya on Tuesday.

After that is the longer and more difficult trip to Conakry where Guinea will be waiting in anticipation at the business end of this group in March.

Bafana will then end their campaign at home against Eritrea.

So, the next two trips will determine the fate of Bafana.

They need to win against Benni McCarthy’s Harambee Stars in Nairobi to avoid being overtaken by Guinea who are expected to pick up another three points in Cairo against Eritrea.

Failure to take all three points in the next match against Kenya will then demand of Bafana to win away in Conakry – a huge ask.

The draw at home against the east Africans on Friday has kept Bafana top of the group but with the screws loosened in this cruel qualification group which will have either South Africa or Guinea not going to the Nations Cup finals.

Unfortunate about Group D of this 2027 AFCON qualification campaign is that Kenya is already guaranteed of qualification as one of three co-hosts.

That is also the brutal reality of all the three groups – Group D (Kenya), Group H (Uganda), and Group L (Tanzania) – with countries that will be co-hosts.

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To qualify, Bafana must win away at Kenya and then avoid defeat to Guinea and then add another victory against Eritrea.

If they don’t win in Kenya, then the demand will be to then take all three points away in Guinea before doing the same against Eritrea.

Guinea now know that three wins (one of which will include Bafana) in their last three games will secure their qualification at the expense of South Africa. 

Photo: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images

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Afcon 2027 qualifiers Bafana Bafana Eritrea Guinea Kenya Pitso Mosimane