Bafana Bafana have an admirer in Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas, having won him over following their 1-0 victory over Costa Rica at the San Jose National Stadium on Thursday (early yesterday morning SA time).
This was a second successive win in an international friendly by coach Shakes Mashaba’s men and eases the pressure on the national team mentor after the Mauritania debacle in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier last month.
Bafana bounced back from that disastrous 2-0 defeat in Nouakchott to beat Senegal three days later in the Nelson Mandela Challenge.
In the national capital San Jose, Andile Jali chipped the ball over Navas – who was between the sticks and was the stand-in captain of Costa Rica – in the ninth minute to register the only goal of the match as the South Africans bullied their opponents.
The win earned them Mashaba’s praise, and Navas didn’t want to be left behind. “Looking at how they competed here. I am still surprised that South Africa are not dominating Africa and even most top countries in the world,” the Real Madrid star said after the match. “If they play this type of football on a regular basis, then surely they should be among the giants in the world.”
Navas urged the SA Football Association to organise more friendly games against sides ranked even higher than Costa Rica to test their character. Now buoyed by this solid win, Mashaba hopes his men can repeat the same feat against Honduras on Tuesday in San Pedro Sula.
Jali does it sweetly for the Bafana
This was a second successive win in an international friendly by coach Shakes Mashaba’s men and eases the pressure on the national team mentor after the Mauritania debacle in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier last month.
Bafana bounced back from that disastrous 2-0 defeat in Nouakchott to beat Senegal three days later in the Nelson Mandela Challenge.
In the national capital San Jose, Andile Jali chipped the ball over Navas – who was between the sticks and was the stand-in captain of Costa Rica – in the ninth minute to register the only goal of the match as the South Africans bullied their opponents.
The win earned them Mashaba’s praise, and Navas didn’t want to be left behind. “Looking at how they competed here. I am still surprised that South Africa are not dominating Africa and even most top countries in the world,” the Real Madrid star said after the match. “If they play this type of football on a regular basis, then surely they should be among the giants in the world.”
Navas urged the SA Football Association to organise more friendly games against sides ranked even higher than Costa Rica to test their character. Now buoyed by this solid win, Mashaba hopes his men can repeat the same feat against Honduras on Tuesday in San Pedro Sula.
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