Despite Bafana reaching Afcon semis, rankings shows minor improvement

Despite Bafana reaching Afcon semis, rankings shows minor improvement

Bafana Bafana are expected to rise in the FIFA world rankings, having reached the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations(Afcon) for the first time since 2000.

Hugo Broos’ men finished in third place after defeating DR Congo 6-5 on penalties on Saturday evening.

Both teams lost to Nigeria and Ivory Coast respectively in the semifinals.

Bafana not making progress in the FIFA Rankings

Bafana came into the tournament ranked 66th and not a lot of people gave them a chance to reach the last four. The 1996 Afcon winners started the tournament with a 2-0 defeat against Mali but quickly recovered and hammered Namibia 4-0 in their next game.

According to the latest predictors, Bafana Bafana are set to rise seven places to 59th in the world rankings.

One might think Bafana’s impressive showing might have seen them go further up and maybe in the top 50 but their lack of wins during regular time did hurt them in the rankings.

Had Bafana beaten Cape Verde and DR Congo without penalties, they might have been ranked between 45th and 50th.

According to FIFA, a team which wins a shootout in the knockout round gets less points compared to the one which wins within 90 or 120 minutes.

The latest Fifa Ranking are set to be published this Thursday.

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