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Strong record at Mbombela bodes well for Bafana

football13 October 2025 13:59| © Mzansi Football
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Anxious Bafana Bafana supporters can draw confidence from the national team’s record at Mbombela Stadium as they hope for success against Rwanda in South Africa’s key World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. 

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South Africa go into the must-win game having never lost previously at the Nelspruit venue, which has been a fortress for the national side in their 10 previous visits, all since 2010, with six victories and four draws.

The Mbombela Stadium, however, is also the scene of their greatest embarrassment to date when Bafana played to a 0-0 draw with Sierra Leone in the belief that it would qualify them for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations finals, and celebrated only to discover they had been pipped by Niger, having failed to understand the rules on goal difference and head-to-head tiebreakers.

Bafana’s first game at the venue in May 2010 helped to open the stadium ahead of the country’s hosting of the World Cup with a 4-0 win over Thailand, a result that figured in a betting scandal with the opposition having been paid to suffer a heavy defeat.

In Cup of Nations qualifiers, South Africa beat Niger in September 2010 with goals for Katlego Mphela and Bernard Parker, and they drew with Sierra Leone in the same campaign, while in the 2017 Cup of Nations campaign, they ended their fixtures with a draw against Mauritania.

They have beaten nearby neighbours Mozambique twice; Gabon 3-0, Ivory Coast 2-0, and drew 1-1 with both Angola and Nigeria.

On Tuesday, a Bafana win coupled with a loss for Benin to Nigeria in Uyo at the same time will see South Africa qualify for next year’s World Cup.

GROUP C PERMUTATIONS

Should South Africa win 2-0 and Benin draw 2-2 with Nigeria, both teams will have the same goal difference and the same number of goals scored. Both teams will be on 18 points. They will then move on to the next of the criteria, which is head-to-head results, where Bafana will progress with a superior head-to-head. 
A 2-0 win for Bafana and a draw for Benin under a 2-2 scoreline e.g. 1-1 or 0-0 will send Bafana through on having scored more goals. 
Should Benin be involved in a 3-3 or 4-4 draw, Bafana will need to then score three goals to overturn Benin's superior goal difference. If Benin are involved in a game ending in a 3-3 or higher scoreline, Bafana, should they win 2-0, will not progress as Benin would have scored more goals.  Both teams would be level on 18 points. 

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