Johannesburg,South Africa

The South African men national team Bafana Bafana has been awarded bronze medal after finishing in a third place during 2023 Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON) which is hosted in Ivory Coast.

Last night at Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium,Bafana Bafana played against the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) where they were fighting for the third place.

During the course of 90 minutes,neither of these teams managed to score even single goal and that led them to penalty shootout whereby South Africa won 6-5.

Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams saved two penalties to help his team win against stubborn DRC team.

Williams has kept five clean sheets in this AFCON,he managed to save six penalties in two matches-he saved four penalties against Cape Verde and last night saved two penalties against Democratic Republic of Congo and that make him one of the contenders of Goalkeeper of the Tournament.

If the Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali failed to keep a clean sheet tonight in the final match against the host nation Ivory Coast that will guarantee a Golden Gloves for Ronwen Williams who excelled during this entire tournament.

Only one player for South Africa missed the first penalty and that player was the beloved and most trusted Teboho Mokoena.

Last night,South Africa's head coach Hugo Broos decided to introduce new players in the starting line-up and rested players such as Percy Tau,Mothobi Mvala and others.

Bafana Bafana end the drought of medals

The last night win has helped Bafana Bafana to end the drought of almost 24 years without medals and South Africa must be thankful to a Belgian man Hugo Broos who helped to revive their dignity in the continental football.

Between 2002 to 2021,Bafana Bafana failed four times to qualify for Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON),was eliminated four times in group stages and managed to reach quarterfinals three times in those years.

Bafana Bafana has won the Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON) once back in 1996 while was hosted in South Africa when they defeat Tunisia 2-0,in 1998 were runners-up and in the year 2000 finished in third-place.

Bafana Bafana's last match was attended by two 1996 AFCON gold medalists Neil Tovey and Lucas Radebe to witness another medal for the team since 2000,and another 1996 AFCON medalist Helman Mkhalele was present as the right-hand man of Hugo Broos.

Who is Hugo Broos,the savior of Bafana Bafana?

Hugo Broos is a Belgian coach who is not an amateur when it comes to African football because before joining Bafana Bafana back in 2021 he had coached in few countries in the continent.

The 71-year-old Belgian coach has impressive history both as a player and manager,in his stint as head coach of national team he helped Cameroon to win 2017 AFCON tournament and before that he spent nearly three decades as manager in club level across Europe,Middle East and Africa.

As a player,he played as a defender for Belgian clubs such as Anderlect from 1970-1983 he made 350 appearances and then 1983-1988 he was playing for Club Brugge made 161 appearances and all those years as player he scored only two goals.

He made 24 appearances for his country between 1974-1986 and he did not even score a single goal on his international career.

He told media that he would like to continue as a head coach of Bafana Bafana but that it will depend on how his employer South African Football Association(SAFA) treats him going forward.

Following an outstanding performances for his squad during the tournament,there are ongoing rumours that different African national teams are trying to lure him away from Bafana Bafana.

Which national team deserve to be crown African champions?

The 2023 African Cup of Nations(AFCON) is coming to an end and all attention would be in the final match against Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

Tonight,it will be a battle of the best when it comes to the African football and it is not easy to guess who will be crown as the 2023 AFCON Champions.

Too much is at stake between two West Africa's archrivals and both teams arm with best players who plies their trade overseas in countries such as England,Italy,France,Germany,Spain and many others.

Nigeria has won Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON) three times and were crowned champions in 1980,1994 and 2013 so they anticipating for the fourth title as Champions of African football.

In the meantime,the Elephants of Ivory Coast are going into tonight's encounter to chase their third title as African Champions because they won it in 1992 and 2015 and the Ivorians are heading to final lead by caretaker coach Emerse Fae who took over the reigns in the round 16 of this current tournament following the dismissal of head coach Jean-Louis Gasset due to poor results especially in the group stages.