Bafana Bafana have not lost a game in over a year under head coach Hugo Broos but are they facing strong enough opposition, especially ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament next year?
There is every reason to be optimistic about Bafana's prospects ahead of the AFCON next year given their unbeaten record of 10 games, as the last time they lost with the Belgian in charge was a 2-1 defeat to Morocco in June last year in the AFCON qualifiers group stage opener.
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However, the quality of the opposition Bafana are facing was questioned, as apart from the AFCON qualifiers, where they have had to play the Atlas Lions twice, they have largely played against opposition mainly from neighbouring countries like Botswana, Mozambique and Angola.
There have been calls for Bafana to play against tougher opposition from Africa in international friendlies, so they can be really tested, against big nations like Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, Tunisia and Algeria or Egypt. Though, a nation usually gets one famous international side to play, and Bafana got Morocco, the most successful African team in history at a World Cup, and beat them.
So what does it take to play more of these so-called "famous" nations?
SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao says they do engage with those nations and they send letters to them but unfortunately these games are not confirmed.
"It's for them to say 'yes', I mean we write a letter, we engaged them. Before we actually send them a letter we talk to them, because we meet them in several congresses, the CAF Congress and several places," Monyepao said on Radio 2000.
"So we talk to them and we gauge the interest and you find that a lot of the GS (General Secretaries) and the Presidents are interested.
"So we send the letter but it's for them to respond, to say we're taking the game, we're coming to you or you're coming to us. But if they don't say anything or they decide that they are going elsewhere there's nothing we can do, we take the opposition that is willing to play us," she explained.
READ: Mabotsa On Chiefs: I Understand The FansBafana qualified from the group that had only three nations after Zimbabwe was disqualified and although they managed to beat Morocco in the return fixture at FNB Stadium, both teams had already qualified.
It is thought that perhaps Broos' charges need to face stronger opposition ahead of AFCON. However, Bafana have secured a friendly against Ivory Coast next month away, and this week's 1-0 victory against DR Congo was against a nation that has performed better than South Africa in recent years. While some are underwhelmed with fixtures against the likes of Eswatini and Namibia, it is also normal for international teams to use their fringe players in one of the two fixtures.
As a result, it should be noted that South Africa's unbeaten run should be respected. Not long ago Bafana were even criticised for failing to beat less fancied nations. This level of consistency and topping qualifying groups is rare for South Africa.
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