Since Bafana Bafana were crowned as Africa Cup of Nations champions on home soil back in 1996, they have failed to reach the Afcon finals on three occasions. Here's a brief look at all three qualifying campaigns.
Read: How Sundowns Stars Fared In 2017 AFCON Qualifiers
2010
Leading up to the 2010 Afcon finals in Angola, Bafana were hit by the sudden resignation of coach Carlos Alberto Parreira due to what he cited as health reasons. He was succeeded by fellow Brazilian Joel Santana, who was thrown into the deep end just before a series of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches. He had little time to work with the players and did not know them. In the end, South Africa finished behind Nigeria and Sierra Leone in the qualifiers, and lost out on booking their flight to Angola.
2012
This was perhaps the most embarrassing Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign for South Africa. Under Pitso Mosimane's reign, Bafana picked up two wins, three draws and a single loss, and going into the last match against Sierra Leone, they were under the impression they needed a single point to seal a berth at the finals in Angola. However, with the match ending 0-0, Niger advanced by virtue of a better head-to-head record after they recorded three wins at home to Bafana's two.
2017
Having gone through the 2015 Afcon-qualifying journey undefeated, during which they knocked Nigeria, who were the reigning champions at the time, out, many expected Bafana to sail easily pass less-fancied opponents such as Gambia and Mauritania, and qualify for the Afcon finals in Gabon. Shakes Mashaba's charges only picked up one point from two matches after being held to a 0-0 draw at home by Gambia before suffering an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to lowly ranked Mauritania. Successive draws (2-2 0-0) against Cameroon saw the 1996 Afcon champions drop to third in Group M's standings, and despite their 4-0 thrashing of Gambia in their penultimate match of qualifying, it was too little too late as South Africa were sent crashing out of yet another continental showpiece.
