Zambia exposed Bafana Bafana’s frailty in defence as they came from a goal down to win 2-1 at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Phokeng. Keagan Dolly opened the scoring for the hosts before the Copper Bullets of Zambia netted twice in four minutes.
Both sides used the match as a preparation for November’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Bafana Bafana stated early in the week that they will be using their friendlies against Namibia and Zambia, as preparations for their important Afcon qualifiers against Sao Tome and Principe, in back-to-back encounters in November.
Zambia have a tougher assignment in their qualifiers as they will take on SADC neighbours Botswana.
In the friendly match in Phokeng, Bafana Bafana suffered a setback early in the match. In only his first start for Bafana Bafana, lanky 20-year-old Lyle Foster was injured outside the penalty area.
SAFA’s medical team led by Dr Thulani Ngwenya, signalled to his bench that a substitute was needed for the injured Foster, who couldn’t continue with the match.
Bafana Bafana took the game to Zambia, but their efforts yielded no results against an organised defence system.
The Zambians also had chances on the break, starting some wonderful counter attacks from deep in their half. Chipolopolo squandered a wonderful goal scoring opportunity and were unfortunate not to find the back of the net late in the first half.
Andile Jali and Percy Tau combined well with an exquisite pass but the former Mamelodi Sundowns man didn’t have enough supporting runners to make the chance count.
Early in the second half, the Molefi Ntseki-led men were exposed at the back, but Zambia couldn’t take advantage of the situation. It was an end-to-end action with Tau taking on the Zambian defence.
On the other hand, after winning back ball possession, the Milutin Sredojevic-led side pushed numbers forward, but failed to score.
Substitute, Keagan Dolly, rounded the keeper and scored for Bafana Bafana.
At the other end, the Zambians wasted yet another chance to score with Bafana’s defence at sea. Moments later, however, they were celebrating the equaliser.
The frailty of the home side’s defence was exposed once again and this time they were duly punished. And the visitors were not done.
The Zambians held on to their lead and won the encounter 2-1.
