Rwanda Tuesday beat South Africa’s Bafana Bafana 2-0 to throw the group C of the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers open.
South Africa were favourites to win the tie at the Stade Huye, following Rwanda’s six games winless streak, but it was a shocking outcome for Bafana Bafana who beat Benin Republic in their first game. Rwanda now top the group with four points, South Africa three points, while Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Lesotho have two points after they drew with Benin in the other group game decided on Tuesday. The Squirrels coached by former Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr are rock bottom with a point.
South Africa looked good to be run away leaders with six points had they beat Rwanda, but they failed to recover from two first half goals. The result ended Bafana Bafana’s 11-match winning streak and was only their second loss in their last 18 games across all competitions. South Africa’s national team are currently ranked 64th in the world according to the latest FIFA World Rankings and Rwanda is in 140th place.
South Africa will be guests of the Super Eagles on June 3, 2024 and a seven days later play against Benin in Cotonou. The Super Eagles rattled by their poor start would need those two games to relaunch themselves back into reckoning, otherwise another World Cup no show will greet the Super Eagles by time the qualifiers are over in March 2025.
