Bafana Bafana rode their luck quite a bit in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Angola at the Mbombela Stadium.
Against Mozambique, Bafana had created numerous opportunities and had kept the Mambas’ chances to a minimum – it was from a Rushine de Reuck mistake that Thursday night’s opponents scored and apart from that, they didn’t threaten the South African goal very much.
It was a different story against Angola on Sunday though as the visiting side carved through the SA defence on several occasions - Bafana were indebted to some excellent saves from Ronwen Williams to prevent defeat.
Williams’ performance was an improvement on Thursday although that was one of the few positives from a rather flat performance.
It’s not too surprising that Bafana were lacking in energy, the game coming after what has been a frenetic last couple of months of domestic action and just three days after the previous international.
Still though, head coach Hugo Broos would have wanted more from his men – with vital Afcon qualifiers coming in March, the Belgian wants to see players raising their arm for selection.
There weren't too many of those sort of performances in Mbombela on Sunday and in the end it took a rather fortuitous penalty for South Africa to snatch the draw.
It remains debatable whether Kgaogelo Sekgota was fouled right on the edge of the box by Alem, and in any case it’s not like Bafana were posing much threat with the Kaizer Chiefs man having his back to goal.
And former Cape Town City keeper Hugo Marques ended up having a pretty quiet night in goal as Bafana rarely threatened, bar a couple of long-range shots.
Missed opportunity
BackpagepixThe lack of clear chances created by South Africa may be of concern to Broos and it was surprising he did not start against Mozambique with Thursday’s two-goal hero, Bongokuhle Hlongwane.
Rather than allow him to immediately build momentum, the Minnesota United man was left on the bench until 60 minutes and when he did come on, he seemed hurried and lacked composure on several key occasions, including a double miss late in the match.
It now means that Bafana still have no clear first-choice striking partnership – Fagrie Lakay and Zakhele Lepasa were also not at the races, as the next match approaches – Liberia on March 20 next year in the Afcon qualifiers.
At least Sunday’s result may ensure South Africa are not lulled into a false sense of security and they’ll certainly need to play with more zest and energy next time.
