South Africa maintained Pitso Mosimane’s perfect start to his second spell as Bafana Bafana coach with a 1-0 friendly win over Egypt at Cairo International Stadium on Sunday.
Puso Dithejane scored the only goal in the 51st minute as a largely inexperienced South African side defeated an Egypt team that included Tottenham Hotspur star Omar Marmoush.
The result gives Mosimane three wins from three matches since returning to the role. His first two games were 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, with Bafana Bafana beating Guinea 2-1 at home before thrashing Eritrea 5-0 in Cairo to move top of Group D.
It was also South Africa’s second successive victory over Egypt, both at the same stadium. The previous win came under Stuart Baxter, when Bafana Bafana beat the hosts in the last 16 of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa have since shown clear progress in the continental competition, having claimed a bronze medal in 2024 after previously struggling for more than a decade even to qualify. Their most recent campaign ended with a less impressive quarter-final exit in January.
Mosimane had promised opportunities to members of his 30-man squad who had either been substitutes or unused during the opening two matches of the camp, and he made several changes for the Egypt fixture.
Sipho Chaine started in goal, while Thabang Mataludi, Lebone Seema and Fawaaz Basadien came into the defence. Brooklyn Poggenpoel of Durban City was given another chance after impressing against Eritrea, when he replaced the injured Bathusi Aubaas early in the match.
Luther Singh, Dithejane, Tashreeq Matthews and Cassius Mailula were also handed opportunities in attack.
Egypt made fewer changes and largely retained the side that had drawn 0-0 with Angola and beaten South Sudan 5-0 in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Oufa Shobeir, Mohamed Hany, Hossam Abdelmaguid, Rami Rabia, Mohanad Lasheen, Emam Ashour, Mostafa Ziko and Marmoush all started.
The hosts had also been affected by the early departure of Mohamed Salah following reported disagreements with coach Hossam Hassan and team manager Ibrahim Hassan, in a situation compared in the source to Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo.
South Africa matched Egypt’s intensity before taking the lead soon after half-time. Seema sent a long ball forward and Shobeir left his area to challenge Dithejane, but the Chicago Fire attacker won possession and finished into an unguarded net on his debut.
Egypt pressed for an equaliser, with Ricardo Goss making an important save from Hamza Abdelkarim’s header in the 71st minute after Rabia crossed from the left.
In the seventh minute of added time, Goss blocked Osama Faisal’s shot. The ball fell to Abdelkarim, who narrowly missed the crossbar.
The victory gave Mosimane another notable result in Egypt, where his Mamelodi Sundowns side won the 2016 Caf Champions League final and where he later guided Al Ahly to two more Champions League titles.
