South Africa brush Mali aside in final warm-up

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - South Africa extended their unbeaten run to 12 matches with a 3-0 rout of fancied Mali in an African Nations Cup warm-up match in Gabon on Wednesday.

Goals from Thulani Hlatshwayo, Sibusiso Vilakazi and Dean Furman set up the morale-boosting victory for Bafana Bafana ahead of Saturday's start of the continental championship.

Both sides fielded strong lineups in their last game before travelling to Equatorial Guinea and it was South Africa, after weathering early pressure, who created the better openings.

Mali will be in Group D at the finals with Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Guinea, while South Africa have a tougher Group C that includes top-ranked Algeria, Ghana and Senegal.

The finals start on Saturday and run to Feb. 8.

(Reporting by Nick Said in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)