South Africa's representative among the CAF legends at the Africa Cup of Nations, Siphiwe Tshabalala has opened up on Bafana Bafana's chances at the tournament.
Tshabalala has been selected to represent the country among CAF legends at the Afcon tournament in Ivory Coast, among esteemed former players such as Didier Drogba, Solomon Kalou, both for the host nation, Mamadou Niang of Senegal, 'Jay-Jay' Okocha for Nigeria, Christopher Katongo for Zambia and Egypt's Ahmed Hassan among others.
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CAF has selected one legend in each country that qualified for the Afcon, based on social standing and achievements, among other things, with the exception of Ivory Coast, who have two legends, in ambassadorial roles to market and promote the tournament.
Tshabalala, who famously scored the opening goal for Bafana in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, says he's excited the national team have qualified and believes Hugo Broos' charges stand a chance of making an impact.
"I'm happy that we're in this year's edition of the Afcon and we deserve it. It's been a while since we have not been participating, I strongly believe that we have a chance," Tshabalala said in the touchlines of the AFCON opening ceremony in Abidjan.
"We've got a decent team, you know young talented players and like I said, this is a big stage, big occasion and everyone wants to be counted and they must raise their hands and be counted," he said.
South Africa reached the quarter-finals the previous time they were at the tournament in 2019 before they were eliminated by Nigeria.
'Shabba' went on and said he believes Bafana can go all the way to the final.
"Very tough group, you've got Tunisia, very experienced, very tactical and technical team, very disciplined and they know how to win games," he continued.
"We've got Mali, Mali is also a decent team, they can compete and our neighbours Namibia, I believe it's a side you cannot undermine.
"Each and every team that is here deserves to be here, they are here on merit, so it's a tough group but we're capable of going all the way," he added.
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