Statistically, Canada might hold the upper hand, but Bafana Bafana have already proven that rankings mean nothing when backed by 100% belief. Photo: IANS
Seven percent … 7%.
Those were the chances given to Bafana Bafana of progressing out of Group A before the Fifa World Cup 2026 kicked off. In many respects, a group comprising co-hosts Mexico, South Korea, and the Czech Republic was a formidable one. You could say that to many South Africans, it was akin to a dreaded "Group of Death."
All those nations remain above us in the Fifa World rankings, despite our recent triumph. Bafana, described as recently as Thursday morning as a "lesser" football nation moments before kick-off against South Korea, did not have the luxury of playing other "lesser" nations in their group.
There was no Haiti, New Zealand, Curaçao, Ghana, Cape Verde, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Iraq, Uzbekistan, or Tunisia to look down on and declare, "Ah, there will be an easy three points, we should win that."
