'We have to win': Bafana ready to extinguish Namibia's fire in crucial Afcon tie

When Namibia's Deon Hotto nailed in an 88th-minute winner against Tunisia, one of the Africa Cup of Nations heavy hitters, it all of a sudden made Group E look a lot more interesting than at face value.

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It was a result that shocked all of the continent, and now Namibia, who showed that they have the dedication and guile to overcome a tough Tunisian side, has a target on their backs after entering the tournament quietly. 

An hour after that fixture, Bafana Bafana met Mali, and the two nations knew too well what needed to occur: secure the victory, or pressure would surely start to weigh heavily on their shoulders.

Unsurprisingly, Hugo Broos and his South African charges have taken the burden on their backs.

After failing to capitalise on their goalscoring chances in the first half, a dominant Mali sliced Bafana's continuously shaky defence open in the second stanza, scoring twice to elevate them to command the group standings on goal difference.

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Bafana now has to win against Namibia on Sunday (22:00 SA time) to level the playing field and have a fighting chance to be one of three nations to advance to the knockout rounds.

"First of all, we were very disappointed last Tuesday after the defeat against Mali because we didn't play a bad game," expressed Broos on Saturday ahead of Bafana's clash against the Brave Warriors.

"We were the better team in the first half; we had three good chances to score and we missed the penalty. So when you lose a game like that, the disappointment was big for all of us.

"But we had nearly five days to recover from