South Africa

AFCON 2019 Groups- Bafana in Group of Death at the Africa Cup of Nations

The groups for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations have been officially drawn and Stuart Baxter’s South Africa are in the Group of Death for the continental showpiece. Bafana will be in Group D alongside Morocco and Ivory Coast and neighbours Namibia.

Hosts Egypt will effectively battle it out with DR Congo for top spot in Group A, with Uganda and Zimbabwe completing the group.

Other interesting groups are Group C, featuring Senegal, Algeria, Kenya and Tanzania and Group F- Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau and Benin.

Nigeria appear to have got a straightforward group- the Super Eagles have been drawn alongside Guinea, Madagascar and Burundi.

AFCON 2019 will be a 24 team tournament, played between June 21 and July 19 in Egypt, the first time in the history of CAN that it’s being played as a summer tournament than the usual January/February time.

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Joel Untersee South Africa 2018- Juve defender commits international future to Bafana

Young Juventus defender Joel Untersee has committed his international future to South Africa, choosing the country of his birth over Switzerland, whom he has represented at various youth levels. The news was announced by Bafana coach Stuart Baxter. Untersee, 24, was born in Johannesburg and is currently on loan at Serie B side Empoli from Juventus. If he does play for South Africa, he will join the likes of Pierre Issa, Davide Somma, Hans Vonk and others in the likes of players born in the Republic, but who primarily learnt and plied their trade abroad.

Baxter had also targetted Panagiotis Retsos, the young Greek defender, who like Untersee, was also born in Johannesburg. However the Leverkusen player was capped by Greece earlier this season which put paid to Baxter’s hopes of getting him into the Bafana setup.

Untersee is primarily a right back, but has also been employed on the right side of midfield by Empoli in the current 2017/18 season.

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