Bafana Bafana striker Percy Tau says they lost their opening 2019 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) game to Ivory Coast because their attack wasn’t sharp upfront.
Bafana lost 1-0 to the Elephants at the Al Salam Stadium after some uninspiring performance from Stuart Baxter’s team failing to hit the target in Monday’s game.
Aston Villa Striker Jonathan Kodjia scored the only goal of the game in the second half.
Played in scorching heat, this game saw the West Africans producing some chances, including hitting the woodwork.
Bafana finished the game without a single shot on target and that explains Tau’s remarks.
Bafana’s next game is against neighbours Namibia on Friday evening, the Brave Warriors also lost 1-0 to Morocco on Sunday after conceding a last gasp own goal.
With some players who ply their trade in the PSL including the likes of Deon Hotto and Peter Shalulile, Ricardo Mannetti’s side will start to believe that they can pull it off.
Tau says they will have to bring their A-game to this match.
Despite seeing his side playing second fiddle to the Ivorians in this game, Baxter still sees some positives as he also looks forward to their last game in this group against Morocco.
The North Africans are expected to also be a much tougher opponent like Ivory Coast, but the British-born coach remains optimistic.
Baxter’s tactics were also questioned in the post-match conference last night after sitting too deep in this game.
The former Kaizer Chiefs coach’s overreliance on the transitional game, makes it very difficult for his teams to respond, once they concede first and Monday’s game was not an exception.
Coming to this tournament, it was initially thought that Darren Keet would retain the No.: 1 jersey after having done so well against Libya as Bafana clinched qualification to the Afcon.
But Baxter surprised everyone by fielding Ronwen Williams. Last week already, the Absa Premiership goalkeeper of the season was already being prepared at training for this role.
He made two-point blank saves to keep Bafana in the game and Baxter was vindicated. – Report by Velile Mnyandu
