South Africa booked their place in the knockout stage of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Zimbabwe in Marrakech.
In a see-saw game, Oswin Appollis' late penalty helped Bafana Bafana finish second in Group B, behind Egypt who earlier drew their final game 0-0 against Angola, with Zimbabwe eliminated in fourth.
South Africa made a flying start against their neighbours, taking the lead after seven minutes when Tshepang Moremi's shot took a wicked deflection off Divine Lunga to loop over stranded goalkeeper Washington Arubi.
Zimbabwe responded in style, with Tawanda Maswanhise producing a moment of brilliance by dancing through before firing one of the goals of the tournament into the bottom corner of the net.
The second half began with even greater intensity and the 1996 champions restored their advantage in the 50th minute when Burnley striker Lyle Foster pounced on a back header, beating Arubi to the ball to nod home his second goal of the group stage.
Zimbabwe made a triple substitution to inject fresh urgency and refused to wilt, with their persistence rewarded via a huge slice of luck when goalkeeper Ronwen Williams' save sent the ball cannoning off the face of covering defender Aubrey Modiba and into the net.
Appollis then converted from the spot after Warriors skipper Marvelous Nakamba was penalised for a diving handball following the intervention of the video assistant referee.
South Africa will face the runners-up from Group F - Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Mozambique - in Rabat on Sunday (19:00 GMT), while Zimbabwe are yet to progress from the group stage in any of their six Afcon appearances.
BBC