Bafana Bafana will need to draw lessons from their second half performance if they habour any chances of advancing to the next stages of the Africa Cup of Nations. This after the host team played to a scrappy goalless draw against the tournament rookies, Cape Verde Islands at the National Stadium on yesterday.
Gordon Igesund’s team approached the match too cautiously relying on long balls from the defence and midfield to the strikers in the hope of getting the much-needed goal. However, the approach proved futile as taller and more physical Cape Verdean players easily dealt with those aerial balls.
The only few times Bafana looked promising was when they sporadically played their short passing game, playing the ball on the ground, but it was too few times to trouble The Blue Sharks.
On the 14th minute, Bafana’s central defence pair of Bongani Khumalo and Siyabonga Sangweni got exposed when the predatory Ryan Mendes pierced through the middle, but his shot went wide, much to the relief of the hosts.
Even though Cape Verde never posed any serious threat to Itumeleng Khune after that, Bafana also continued to lose possession through their aimless long balls forward.
Igesund will surely think had he approached the match from onset with the approach he employed in the second he could have perhaps got that all-important goal.
This was until on the 20th minute when Cape Verde’s Heldon found himself alone unmarked in the box. But his attempt for a spectacular kick fell through as he missed the ball completely.
Further prove that Bafana had employed a wrong tactical approach came on the 27th minute when Renelilwe Letsholonyane won the ball thanks to a defence error by the Cape Verde defence. The dreadlocked Bafana midfielder gained composure on the ball and exchanged a pass with Lehlohonolo Majoro. But the latter’s final shot, which looked goal bound, was blocked.
Hoping that would bring about some sanity in the Bafana team and trigger them to be more creative in their attacks, Siyabonga Sangweni was back at it exactly two minutes later sending a tediously long ball to Majoro which the Kaizer Chiefs striker failed to control.
Lack of creativity from Letsholonyane and Tshabalala in the midfield rendered striking partnership of Bernard Parker and Majoro ineffective, very rarely looking to trouble the Cape Verde keeper, Dias Josimar.
It was only in the second half that some sense seems to prevail in Igesund that while a goal was important, how he had to go about getting that goal was even more important.
In the bid to add more creativity and revive the ineffectual midfield, Igesund pulled Dikgacoi out and introduced a more enterprising Lerato Chabangu. His decision also paid off four minutes later when the Moroka Swallows player found himself in the box, but his bicycle kick lacked venom.
There were a few dangerous passes Chabangu exchanged with Tshabalala, Majoro and Parker with some very good runs off the ball, which exposed the Cape Verde defence, which until then Fernando Neves had marshaled with brilliance. For the first time Tshabalala found himself in a good goal scoring position but some quick reaction by Josimar denied Bafana of the much-sought goal.
Bafana Bafana looked even better after Thulani Serero came on for Tshabalala on the 59th minute. The former Ajax Cape Town star proved why he’s one for the future when his composure on the ball seemed to ease the pressure on his teammates. Serero created another goal scoring opportunity for Bafana Bafana when he displayed some skill of his own and released a promising disguise pass – which are some of SA players’ best attributes – but the Cape Verde guard proved hard to break.
Katlego Mphela later came on for Majoro, but even he wasn’t going to go through the solid Cape Verde defence and the match ended in a goalless draw.
Analyzing the match, Igesund will surely think had he approached the match from onset with the approach he employed in the second he could have perhaps got that all-important goal. It is the kind of approach that, if optimized in South Africa’s next match against Angola at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban, could put the host team in a better position to collect maximum points. Anything less will undoubtedly threaten Bafana’s quarterfinal ambitions even further.
Group A remains open following another goalless draw between Morocco and Angola in the second match of the tournament.
Lineup, Bookings (2) & Substitutions (6)
South Africa
• 16 Khune
• 05 Ngcongca Booked
• 11 Matlaba
• 14 Khumalo
• 21 Sangweni
• 08 Tshabalala (Thulani Serero – 60′ )
• 12 Letsholonyane
• 13 Dikgacoi (Chabangu – 46′ )
• 18 Thuso Phala
• 07 Majoro (Mphela – 69′ )
• 17 Parker
Substitutes
• 01 Sandilands
• 22 Meyiwa
• 02 Gaxa
• 03 Masilela
• 04 Nthethe
• 06 Chabangu
• 10 Thulani Serero
• 15 Furman
• 19 Mahlangu
• 20 Manyisa
• 09 Mphela
• 23 Rantie
Cape Verde Islands
• 01 Josimar Vozinha
• 03 Varela
• 06 Neves
• 08 Varela
• 18 Nivaldo
• 23 Carlitos
• 05 Babanco
• 07 Luis Platini Booked (Julio Tavares – 63′ )
• 15 Paulo Marco Soares
• 10 Heldon (Silva – 76′ )
• 20 Ryan (Souto – 85′ )
Substitutes
• 12 Fock
• 16 Rilly
• 13 Lima
• 14 Admilson Gege
• 19 Pecks
• 02 Stenio Santos
• 04 Ramos
• 17 Souto
• 22 Silva
• 09 do Rosario Rambe
• 11 Julio Tavares
• 21 Djaniny
Ref: Djamel Haimoudi
Att: 50,000
– By Sipho Kekana
