- Foster's brace thrust Bafana into a 2-0 lead
- But they collapsed late on to draw 2-2
- An angry Broos struggled to address the media after the game
WHAT HAPPENED? Bafana surrendered a 2-0 first-half lead to allow Liberia tostage a late comeback and snatch a point with a 2-2 draw in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Orlando Stadium on Friday evening.
Lyle Foster had struck a brace in the opening 22 minutes but the visitors clawed their way back into the match through Tonia Tisdell and Mohammed Sangare’s stoppage-time equaliser.
After the match, livid coach Hugo Broos first refused to attend to his media duties but later on appeared to issue a terse statement expressing his anger.
WHAT WAS SAID: “I think it got over him, because you could see in the game we created lots and lots of chances that we should’ve scored,” said Mkhalele as per iDiski Times. “He’s still recovering from that [missing so many chances].
“I believe we played the game so well but we played in patches.
“We were supposed to kill the in the first half but we took the foot off the pedal. Then they started to regain confidence. That’s where I thought we lost it.
“More especially after the first goal they scored, that’s when we tried to urge the players to remain composed, but you could that they started to panic and I believe that led to the equalising goal.
“We told the players that the game is not over, we need to make sure that we take the chances that we created because any goal that they will score, it will work on their minds positively, which it did and negatively on our side.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: After dropping two points, Bafana left themselves with a mountain to climb when they visit Liberia for Tuesday’s return fixture in Monrovia. They go to West Africa needing nothing short of victory.
That is the kind of pressure Broos would have wanted his men to avoid. Defeat in Monrovia will send Bafana out of the qualification bid for Ivory Coast 2023. That would render their last Group K match against Morocco at home a dead rubber.
WHAT NEXT FOR BAFANA? Broos will now try to inspire his men to get their act together and travel to Liberia confidence and win the away game.