Big shout-out to the fans from Bafana boss Broos
BAFANA Bafana’s 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign may be far from perfect, but coach Hugo Broos lauded his charges’ impressive defence following their 1-0 victory over Ethiopia at FNB Stadium on Tuesday night.
Bafana had a decent start to the qualifiers, bagging four points in their first two matches thanks to a draw with Zimbabwe and a win against Ghana.
Ethiopia, though, were expected to be a different kettle of fish in the back-to-back matches.
Bafana had not defeated the east Africans in their last two meetings in the qualifiers, drawing at home and losing away.
But the new-look Bafana team beat Ethiopia 3-1 away from home, which sent them top of African qualifying Group G with seven points.
And they proved that the victory in Ethiopia was not a fluke, winning at home on Tuesday.
It wasn’t the prettiest of performances from Bafana, who won courtesy of an own-goal from Getaneh Kebede and reclaimed top spot with 10 points, while Ghana dropped to second after beating Zimbabwe earlier in the day.
Broos gave credit to his team’s defence for the win, especially after another impressive display from captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who has kept three clean sheets in four qualifiers this campaign.
“We had a clean sheet and that’s very important, because before the game started we already had one point. Maybe if you can score, you win the game like we did today. We can keep a clean sheet, and that’s a very good quality,” he said.
Bafana’s victory came in front of a handful of supporters. Following the relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions last month, the SA Football Association allowed 2 000 fans into the stadium for the first time since the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic 18 months ago.
“The fans! We really hope that for the next game against Zimbabwe, we can see even more fans because in games like this, when we are suffering, then you have the fans behind you, that gives you energy,” explained an animated Broos.
“In Ethiopia, we could count on Ronwen having two fantastic saves, otherwise we were not in the match anymore at that moment, but he did it. “Today, the defence was good, and there were not so many chances. Our defence was very strong.”
Broos conceded that his charges were not at their best on the day, especially in the engine room.
Mothobi Mvala, the goal-scorer and arguably the best player away to Ethiopia, missed out on the return leg at the Calabash in Soweto.
Mvala was subsequently replaced by Njabulo Ngcobo. The Kaizer Chiefs defender put in a good shift in the midfield, although Broos didn’t feel he was effective enough.
However, he explained that all his charges took strain from exhaustion.
“We had an awful trip last week to Ethiopia, but what the boys did there in Ethiopia in terms of character and mentality was fantastic.
“We tried it today also, but the trip was in the legs of the boys, and we saw it. We were not fresh.”