Bafana Bafana's goalless draw against African champions Egypt in Cairo this past weekend has once again shown that the national team is on its way to becoming kings of the continent again, writes iafrica.com's Khaya Ndubane.

Fifteen years ago, South Africa were crowned African champions on home soil and two years later they came close to defending their trophy, losing in the Final to Egypt in Burkina Faso.

Bafana then came third in the African Cup of Nations in 2000, but it was all downhill after that... they even failed to qualify for the 2010 Afcon hosted by Angola.

But since South Africa hosted the World Cup last year, Bafana Bafana have been on the rise and are now just one win away from qualifying for Afcon 2012.

They have also risen from the dead in the World and African rankings, having moved up from a lowly 85th spot in the World rankings to a respectable 38th, and following a win against Tanzania and the recent draw against Egypt, that climb is likely to continue.

Bafana's most recent form is testimony that South Africa is on the rise again.

On Sunday, Bafana not only matched African giants Egypt pound for pound, they also created more goal-scoring chances than them. In fact, with a bit more luck, South Africa could have walked away with a win that would have ended any hopes that the Egyptians had of defending their trophy.

Had Katlego Mphela or Tlou Segolela converted their one-on-one chances, South Africa would have been in command of the Group G standings, but be that as it may, South Africa showed that they can hold their own against the best of Africa.

Singling out any individual for the great work done in Egypt wouldn't do any justice to the team, as on the day, the technical team led by coach Pitso Mosimane did a great job by selecting a more attacking team and the substitutions were also spot on.

In return, the players showed character and maturity in the field of play and at one stage one would have thought that Bafana were the home team.

Youngsters like defender Anele Ngcongca, midfielder Andile Jali and goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune showed that South Africa has a great future in as far as talent is concerned.

Ngcongca showed maturity at the back, Jali combined well with Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Kagisho Dikgacoi in the middle of the park, while Khune was always there to thwart any threat from the Egyptians.

Siphiwe Tshabalala, who was a stand-in captain for the injured Steven Pienaar, also led by example and was unlucky not to get the winning goal when his shot was parried by the Egyptian goalkeeper.

All in all, Bafana Bafana's courageous display against Egypt showed that the 1996 African champions are on their way back to the top!