Bafana Bafana's impressive record playing against African teams for the first time

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/cameroon/zk1uVG2D/"]Cameroon[/a] were their first opponents as they won 1-0 on a rainy night in Durban in 1992, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-sudan/bBswuetq/"]South Sudan[/a] were their latest new opponent in an AFCON qualifier in 2024.[/p][p]They have won 32 of those 49 ‘debut’ matches against new African opponents, drawing seven and losing 10, giving them victory 65% of the time.[/p][p]Bafana Bafana have scored 74 goals in those 49 games and conceded 40, keeping clean sheets on 25 occasions, or a little over half the time. They have failed to score in 10 of those games.[/p][embed guid="b7cc6186-9b4f-4de0-baaf-05a39b085540" url="https://x.com/BafanaBafana/status/2104528540959932601?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]The most common first-meeting score is 1-0 to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/south-africa/W2ijYvlr/"]South Africa[/a], which has happened 10 times, while overall they have won by a single goal 17 times, by two goals nine times and by three goals six times.[/p][p]Their heaviest defeat in a first meeting was 4-0 away to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nigeria/EBE2Xb3l/"]Nigeria[/a] in October 1992, with a 4-1 loss to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/zimbabwe/APEVkV8h/"]Zimbabwe[/a] two months earlier next on the list. No wonder in those days they were called the ‘4x4s’.[/p][p]In first meetings away from home they have been less convincing, though understandably so, with a record of P23 W13 D1 L9. At home it is much better: P26 W19 D6 L1.[/p][p]The only draw among those 23 first meetings outside South Africa was the 1-1 stalemate with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tanzania/KzAbFwJ7/"]Tanzania[/a] in October 2002, while the only team to beat them at home the first time they met was [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/zambia/zBS458hb/"]Zambia[/a], who claimed a 1-0 success in 1992.[/p][infobox id="6b26ac9e-516b-44ef-ae26-248d15bdf3de" /][p]South Africa previously had an extraordinary sequence of 15 successive first meetings with new African opponents without defeat, from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/d-r-congo/phn9mm8H/"]Congo[/a] in October 1992 through to DR Congo in November 1996, which included 13 wins and two draws.[/p][p]The 48th new team Bafana faced were also the last to beat them in a first meeting, as they slipped to a 2-0 loss to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/rwanda/4dPTyCvg/"]Rwanda[/a] on a poor artificial pitch away from home in a World Cup qualifier in 2023.[/p][p]The only three African teams Bafana have yet to face are [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/djibouti/0xAwONtF/"]Djibouti[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/somalia/Aiu9mqIL/"]Somalia[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/togo/noW84S74/"]Togo[/a].[/p][p] [/p][infobox id="584d9683-f419-4696-8cb3-c155213092a0" /]