South Africa national football team Bafana Bafana's resurgence has sparked hope in the nation, with fans rallying behind the team. The team's recent performances have been impressive, with a 2-1 loss to Panama in Cape Town being met with a spectacular moment, with Mbekezeli Mbokazi's equalizer giving an indication of how the country reacts to a spectacular moment on a football pitch. The central defender's 30-yard strike zoomed into the top corner, and during the celebrations at the corner flag, his team-mates toppled over him. Meanwhile, the noise that followed seemed to cascade from the terraces. Emilio Hartogh, a supporter, says the scenes show that South Africans are believing in their team again. 'And love them,' he insists. 'The country is obsessed by sports and the people who represent them. But we need something tangible to get behind. When that happens we say, 'Bafana kaofela,' which means, 'We are all Bafana Bafana (the boys, the boys)'. Not so long ago, it did not feel this way. 'There was a friendly match in Durban ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2023 and only a few hundred people were there,' says Norika Naidoo, who was one of the attendees. 'The game was played in the middle of a storm, but it wasn't just the torrential rain that put supporters off.' South Africa had failed to reach three of the six AFCONs since hosting the World Cup in 2010, which marked their last appearance in that tournament as well. 'A degree of apathy had set in across the country as far as the national soccer team was concerned,' says Naidoo, who points towards goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams pleading for fans to attend matches as evidence of this. 'Hosting the World Cup was a wonderful experience in terms of the vibes it created, but it was followed by many years of underachievement in terms of results on the pitch.'