South Africa beat Tunisia in Afcon final
South Africa defeated Tunisia 2-0 to win their only Africa Cup of Nations title in Johannesburg. The FNB stadium was packed to rafters. South Africans were comforted by the sight of President Nelson Mandela wearing the same jersey as Bafana Bafana’s captain – a ploy that had worked wonders for the rugby team in 1995.
But the joy of Mandela and the fans had to wait until after 73 minutes when substitute striker Mark Williams scored the first goal in a goal-mouth scrimmage to be followed immediately by the second, indeed the coup de grace by the same marksman in the 75th minute.
And the huge stadium edifice burst into hilarious chants of “Amandla, Amandla , Bafana Bafana. Madiba time, Madiba time”; as it became obvious South Africa had emulated the feats of Egypt and Ghana as winners of the Nations Cup at their first attempt.
But before the intervention of Mark Williams, the South Africans had sat on tenterhooks from the runs of the tactically disciplined Tunisians, appearing in the final for the second time since 1965 when they first hosted , and who had Henri Kasperczak, formerly of Ivory Coast, as coach.
The Tunisians were not overawed by the deafening cheers, which greeted the arrival of President Mandela, sporting the number 9 jersey on Captain Neil Tovey, and his entourage of Zulu King, Godwill Zwelithini among others.
Indeed, the North Africans looked superior to the South Africans in the first half. Their hard running forward Slimane Mehdi, made Mark Fish, Neil Tovey, Lucaz Radebe, Sizwe Motaung and Innocent Buthelezi work overtime.
Mehdi earned the Tunisian the first freekick of the match after 10 minutes when he was brought down at the edge of the box before South Africa responded with 11th minute cornerkick that saw Fish heading away Doctor Khumalo’s kick.
The Bafana Bafana went on to claim a second corner after 15 minutes, and again Khumalo’s connection was headed out by John ‘Shoe’ Moshoue only for Slimane to react for the Tunisia with a long range shot that missed narrowly.
Twice in the 37th and 38th minutes however, Khumalo had the chance to put his side in front but once shot into the hands of Tunisian goalie and captain Chokri El Ouaer and on the second shot into the skies after ‘Shoe’s volley from the right which was headed out by Shaun Bartlett was plucked out by Chokri to the direction of Khumalo.
The half ended with Ugandan referee Charles Massembe failing to red card Buthelezi for a second bookable offence after 40 minutes when he wickedly chopped down Sellimi for a Tunisian free kick but without a caution to the South African.
With the promise of seventy thousand dollars there for the taking, Bafana coach Clive Barker sent on Helman Mkalele for Buthelezi in the 53rd minute, and just two minutes on South Africa nearly found the opener from a free kick from Mkalele and Khumalo set – piece which saw Tinkler’s grounder being saved with difficulty by the Master Card All- Star Team goalie Chokri.
By the 65th minute, Baker sent on his second card, Mark Williams for the tired Philemon Masinga, and this change proved the magical wand for the South Africans.
In just two moments that the Tunisian defence seemed have forgotten to mark Mark Williams, he ran them into trouble.
In a goal-mouth melee resulting from a free kick curled in by Khumalo, fish headed the ball on the right back Mataung whose close range shot Chokri punched out for Mataung to turn in a volley that the slippery Williams soared to head past the now stranded Chokri.
The ovation was stupendous and Williams did not wait for the Tunisians to overcome their trance when with the speed of horse he latched onto a pass and caught the Tunisian defence without cover hitting a low left footed diagonally into the net.
The Tunisian challenge had come to an end and the rest was all Bafana Bafana celebration for this most significant feat after the Springboks won the World Rugby Championship for South Africa the previous year.
Infact, the news of the Nations Cup victory later brought Vice-president F. W. de Clerk also to the stadium to join the champagne sparkle after President Mandela assisted CAF President Issa Hayatou presented the trophy to South African Captain Neil Tovey.
Match Summary
03/02/1996
FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
Attendance: 80,000
South Africa 2-0 Tunisia
Scorers: Mark Williams 73, 75
South Africa: A. Arendse, S. Motaung, L. Radebe, M. Fish,N. Tovey, L. Buthelezi (H. Mkhalele 51), E. Tinkler, J.Moshoeu, D. Khumalo, S. Bartlett, P. Masinga (M. Williams
65)
Tunisia: C. El Ouaer, M. Boukadida, H. Rekhissa, F.Chouchane, S. Jaballah, Z. Beya, R. Bouazizi (A. Hassen77), S. Fekhi, K. Godhbane (L. Hanini 46), A. Sellimi, M.Slimane
Referee: Charles Massembe (Uganda)
Other AFCON fixtures on 3 February
1996 Third Place play-off: Zambia 1-0 Ghana
2000 Group: Nigeria 2-0 Morocco
2000 Group: Tunisia 1-0 Congo- Brazaville
2002 Quarter-finals: South Africa 0-2 Mali
2002 Quarter-finals: Nigeria 1-0 Ghana
2004 Group: Cameroon 0-0 Egypt
2004 Group: Algeria 1-2 Zimbabwe
2006 Quarter-finals: Egypt 4-1 DR Congo
2006 Quarter-finals: Guinea 2-3 Senegal
2008 Quarter-finals: Ghana 2-1 Nigeria
2008 Quarter-finals: Ivory Coast 5-0 Guinea
2013 Quarter-finals: Nigeria 2-1 Ivory Coast
2013 Quarter-finals: Burkina Faso 1-0 Togo
By: George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
