Tunisian legend Radhi Jaidi wary of improved Bafana Bafana

Jaidi, who is a former Tunisian captain and was part of the team that won the 2004 African Cup of Nations title on home soil told SABC Sport after the 2023 AFCON draw in Abidjan last night that how they start this tournament will be very important.

The Carthage Eagles are coming to their 21st AFCON and Jaidi believes that their young team coached by Jalel Kadri can bring a good fight to Ivory Coast.

"It's not gonna be easy for us. If you are speaking about our younger promising Tunisian team with some inexperienced players. It's gonna be a great experience for us. It's gonna be a great group where are gonna play Mali which is traditionally a strong team. South Africa who is coming from a period where they had a lot of issues but now we see South Africa back at the top and it's gonna be huge for us to manage the start of the tournament and then make sure we get out of the group," Jaidi said.

This will be the seventh meeting between Bafana Bafana and Tunisia and the South African senior men’s national football team have won three matches, with Tunisia claiming two victories and the other game ending in a draw.

Bafana’s maiden AFCON title came via a 2-0 win at FNB stadium in 1996 over Tunisia. Jaidi was part of the team that lost to Bafana in 2000 on penalties in the bronze medal match in Ghana.

The two teams will meet in the last group game on the 24th of January, the former Esperance coach assesses Bafana.

"No, I didn't watch but I know South Africa is progressing well and there are some countries that can't be lost because of the base of the structure they have and the quality of the players of course."