The opening 20 minutes are still an Achilles heel for Bafana Bafana. But their recovery to claw their way back into a game remains their biggest strength ahead of this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
Yesterday, South Africa broke the deadlock through defender Thulani Hlatshwayo in their friendly match against Mali after they had absorbed all the pressure up until the 41st minute.
Sibusiso Vilakazi and Dean Furman added two more late goals in the second half to make it look easy against one of African football’s giants.
The Eagles, who dumped them out of the quarterfinals of the 2013 Afcon in South Africa, had bullied Bafana before the SA goal.
While they had to deal with numerous attacks as well as adjust to the baking sun here, coach Shakes Mashaba’s men were never really too exposed to concede.
Some battles – especially in midfield – were won, and some were lost. However, Bafana went into the first half break in some measure of control, partly due to Hlatshwayo’s well-headed goal.
Mashaba also did not need to give a pep-talk in the dressing room after the break because his men picked up the pace all on their own.
It didn’t start that way though. Bafana goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane, making his second start since pushing himself into contention under Mashaba, could have been called into action much earlier in the game. However, Ahmed Doumbia and Bakary Sako failed to hit the target.
Their captain Seydou Keita soon added his name to the mistimed attempts.
Mali had also become aware they could expose Bafana on the left flank, where Thabo Matlaba was operating. Not that Matlaba had a shocker, but his enterprising runs forward left a gaping hole at the back and gave The Eagles the width to hit South Africa on the counter.
And that Bafana had a handful of supporters in the stands – made up mostly of travelling journalists and members of the embassy – meant they had to dig even deeper. That they did. After all, both coach and players have said they prefer to play away from home, where they won two and drew one of their three Afcon qualifiers last year.
Bongani Ndulula could have increased Bafana’s tally soon after the hour mark.
Matlaba surged forward once again and delivered a perfect ball to find the onrushing striker, who found the target but was unfortunate to see his shot cleared off the line.
With the sun coming out and sweat dripping from shirts, the pace and intensity of this clash surprisingly did not drop, proving Bafana are acclimatising to the conditions in this neck of the woods and were not showing any respect to Mali. Mashaba will be proud of his team.
It continues to be a debate about who the coach will choose as his captain when Bafana kick off their campaign against Algeria on Monday in Group C.
Andile Jali got his turn to wear the armband instead of his midfield partner Furman and showed true character as South Africa thumped Mali 3-0 to preserve Mashaba’s unbeaten record.
Bafana on track for Afcon test
Yesterday, South Africa broke the deadlock through defender Thulani Hlatshwayo in their friendly match against Mali after they had absorbed all the pressure up until the 41st minute.
Sibusiso Vilakazi and Dean Furman added two more late goals in the second half to make it look easy against one of African football’s giants.
The Eagles, who dumped them out of the quarterfinals of the 2013 Afcon in South Africa, had bullied Bafana before the SA goal.
While they had to deal with numerous attacks as well as adjust to the baking sun here, coach Shakes Mashaba’s men were never really too exposed to concede.
Some battles – especially in midfield – were won, and some were lost. However, Bafana went into the first half break in some measure of control, partly due to Hlatshwayo’s well-headed goal.
Mashaba also did not need to give a pep-talk in the dressing room after the break because his men picked up the pace all on their own.
It didn’t start that way though. Bafana goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane, making his second start since pushing himself into contention under Mashaba, could have been called into action much earlier in the game. However, Ahmed Doumbia and Bakary Sako failed to hit the target.
Their captain Seydou Keita soon added his name to the mistimed attempts.
Mali had also become aware they could expose Bafana on the left flank, where Thabo Matlaba was operating. Not that Matlaba had a shocker, but his enterprising runs forward left a gaping hole at the back and gave The Eagles the width to hit South Africa on the counter.
And that Bafana had a handful of supporters in the stands – made up mostly of travelling journalists and members of the embassy – meant they had to dig even deeper. That they did. After all, both coach and players have said they prefer to play away from home, where they won two and drew one of their three Afcon qualifiers last year.
Bongani Ndulula could have increased Bafana’s tally soon after the hour mark.
Matlaba surged forward once again and delivered a perfect ball to find the onrushing striker, who found the target but was unfortunate to see his shot cleared off the line.
With the sun coming out and sweat dripping from shirts, the pace and intensity of this clash surprisingly did not drop, proving Bafana are acclimatising to the conditions in this neck of the woods and were not showing any respect to Mali. Mashaba will be proud of his team.
It continues to be a debate about who the coach will choose as his captain when Bafana kick off their campaign against Algeria on Monday in Group C.
Andile Jali got his turn to wear the armband instead of his midfield partner Furman and showed true character as South Africa thumped Mali 3-0 to preserve Mashaba’s unbeaten record.
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