Bafana Bafana will look to extend their impressive streak of 17 consecutive unbeaten home matches in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers when they host Uganda at Orlando Stadium on Friday (18:00).

The South African national team has not lost a qualifying match on home soil since September 2007, when they were shockingly defeated 3-1 by Zambia.

Former Jomo Cosmos and Bidvest Wits striker Christopher Katongo scored a hat-trick for Zambia in a space of 20 minutes, while Benni McCarthy’s header provided a consolation goal for Bafana.

In that game, Bafana also had the likes of Delron Buckley, Steven Pienaar, Nasief Morris, Aaron Mokoena, Bradley Carnel, Macbeth Sibaya, but they were still left shellshocked by former Cosmos striker who quick fired all three goals past Rowen Fernandez at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

Despite their long unbeaten run, coach Hugo Broos insists that the team cannot afford to underestimate Uganda. “Uganda is not the quality team in Africa,” said Broos. 

“But it is a tough team. As a team, they are playing with a great dedication, they are playing with honesty and that means it will be a tough game on Friday. But we need to achieve our best level like we did in the previous games.  

“We played our best football in the previous games and we have to play our best football on Friday, but again it’s a qualifier.  

“The only thing on Friday that is important is the result. Can we do it with good football like we did in the previous games? Do we have to do it by fighting? It’s important that we do that.  

“After 90 minutes, we need a victory and that is the most important thing. A victory on Friday and victory against South Sudan away on Tuesday, that will mean we have achieved our goal of winning six out of the six points and start again next month against Congo with maximum of points.”  

The previous edition of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers – despite claiming the bronze medal in the finals in Ivory Coast, Bafana Bafana started the qualifiers by losing 2-1 to Morocco away in June 2022.    

Bafana Bafana will be aiming to start their qualifying campaign on a winning note, especially after Congo defeated South Sudan 1-0 in the other Group K match to go top.