South Africa 2-0 Niger: Steven Pienaar Inspires Bafana To An Easy Win

With coach Pitso Mosimane having made one change to the starting lineup that played Ghana, bringing in Bongani Khumalo who missed the Black Stars friendly with an injury, the team came out all guns blazing with Steven Pienaar dictating matters in midfield.

Man-of-the-match Pienaar won the ball just near the halfway line and unleashed a defence splitting pass for Katlego Mphela who made no mistake when beating Kassali to give Mosimane’s charges the advantage with just 11 minutes on the board.

It took the visitors 16 minutes to get their first chance, but Khumalo did well to clear the ball for a corner and the resultant set piece found Itumeleng Khune in an uncompromising mood, easily collecting Moussa's header.

Three minutes into the referee's added six minutes of stoppage time, Anele Ngcongca did well on the right and brought in a beautiful cross that fell for Parker whose volley gave Kassali no chance. The hosts entered the changing rooms at halftime with a 2-0 lead.

In the second half Pienaar, Sibaya and Khuboni were at their best, creating chances which Tshabalala struggled to finish, maybe still thinking about his World Cup opening goal.

Mosimane made a like for like change bringing in Letsholonyane for Khuboni just to close shop while Karim came in for Moussa for Niger as coach Frederic Costa hoped to change his team's fortunes. The much awaited Kermit Erasmus debut finally happened in the 77th minute as he came in for Mphela and Pienaar also made away for Teko Modise in the 80th minute.

Bafana bombarded the visitors' goalmouth with chance after chance, but fans watched in agony as either the Niger keeper Kassali came out tops or simple opportunities were pushed wide.

The man in black finally ended the game and it was all celebrations in Mpumalanga and the rest of South Africa, but Mosimane's charges wasted enough chances to win a dozen games.

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