Bafana Bafana received a heroes' welcome at OR Tambo on Thursday morning.
Image: Michael Sherman / IOL
Fans waited in eager anticipation at the OR Tambo International Airport arrivals hall ahead of Bafana Bafana's arrival back in South Africa in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Hordes of fans packed the international arrivals hall to celebrate their historic FIFA World Cup campaign. Supporters began gathering long before the team’s scheduled 5am arrival, eager to catch a glimpse of the history-making Bafana squad.
When the squad finally emerged at around 7:30am, fans gave them a true heroes' welcome:
Watch as Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie passionately praises Bafana Bafana during a briefing outside the airport on Thursday morning:
Such was the excitement in the arrivals hall that it was difficult to move through the massive crowd.
There were constant cheers and a palpable sense of euphoria as supporters gave Bafana the reception befitting national heroes.
Although Bafana lost 1-0 to Canada in the Round of 32 on Sunday, it was the first time in South African history that the national team had reached the knockout stages of a FIFA World Cup.
Few expected them to get that far.
The general expectation was that Bafana might scrape into the knockout rounds as one of the best third-placed finishers in the expanded 48-team tournament.
Instead, they exceeded those expectations by finishing second in their group to qualify automatically. In fact, that second-place finish would also have been enough to progress under the previous 32-team World Cup format — a measure of just how impressive their achievement was.
It should also be remembered that Bafana’s greatest accomplishment may have been qualifying for the World Cup in the first place. The last time they earned their place on merit was for the 2002 tournament. While they also appeared at the 2010 edition, that came through automatic qualification as hosts.
Not even the three-point deduction for fielding an ineligible player during qualifying could prevent Bafana from topping their group ahead of continental heavyweights Nigeria.
Although their remarkable journey ended in heartbreaking fashion against Canada, it has reignited belief in South African football and reminded the country what this team is capable of.
For that, they returned home as heroes.