Bafana Bafana advanced to the Africa Cup of Nations last 16 after playing out to a goalless draw against Tunisia in their final Group E encounter at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo.

The North Africans had a late chance to win and stay alive, but Haythem Jouini, a substitute, headed a cross well over the bar.

After Algeria, Tunisia was the second top-10 country to be knocked out in the first round.

Mali won Group E after a scoreless tie with Namibia. They, along with second-placed South Africa, went to the next round.

After Tunisia lost to Namibia and tied with Mali, veteran captain and forward Youssef Msakni was taken off the team. Yassine Meriah, a defender, became captain.

South Africa kept the same starting lineup after beating Namibia by four goals. Eight of the players were from Mamelodi Sundowns, the best club in South Africa.

In northern Ivory Coast, where it was 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit), the early stages were tense and rough. Tunisia had more possession but didn’t use it well.

Tunisia missed three half-chances in the middle of the half: Ellyes Skhiri shot high, Anis Ben Slimane missed a free kick, and Elias Achouri sent a header wide.

At the end of a good run by Percy Tau for South Africa, Evidence Makgopa headed the ball wide, and Thapelo Morena’s long-range shot just missed the crossbar.

Tunisia had five shots on goal in the first half, but none of them went in. The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, was watching the game.

A few minutes were added to the start of the second half so that it would not clash with the other Group E game, which was between Mali and Namibia in San Pedro, a city on the southwest coast.

As the hour mark got closer, Msakni, who lives in Qatar, took over for Ben Slimane and earned his 100th cap for the Carthage Eagles.

At the end of this month, Msakni joined Cameroonian Rigobert Song, Egyptian Ahmed Hassan, and Ghanaian Andre “Dede” Ayew as the fourth player to have played in eight Cup of Nations tournaments.

Photo by Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix