Bafana hold Angola to draw
SA side extend their current unbeaten streak to 17
BAFANA Bafana extended their matches without a loss to 17 last night when they were held to an exciting 0-0 draw by Angola in an international friendly at Buffalo City Stadium in East London.
The encounter proved to be a game of two halves as Angola dominated in the first half while the home side came back stronger after the break.
Bafana made nine changes from the side that beat Guinea-Bissau 3-1 in Durban at the weekend with nine of the players in the starting team playing in the Premier Soccer League.
Bafana had their first chance five minutes into the game when Phakamani Mahlambi combined well with Percy Tau but the Mamelodi Sundowns man failed to pick a teammate in the box.
Angola winger Manuel David Afonso was a constant threat on the left and managed to get the better of debutant Diamond Thopola a couple of times in the first half.
The slow Angola defenders could not deal with the pacey Bafana forwards as they committed a number of fouls deep in their own half. But the home side failed to capitalise from the set pieces.
While Bafana dominated, it was the visitors who had the first shot on target when captain Adriano Belmiro Duarte Nicolau cut back inside from the left but shot straight at Darren Keet who made a routine save.
Angola were the better side in the first half as they played in the right areas, while Bafana were forced back into their own half.
Caretaker coach Owen da Gama introduced his more experienced campaigners in Ramahle Mphahlele, Keagan Dolly, Thulani Serero and Themba Zwane in place of Lebohang Manyama and debutants Thopola, Luther Singh, Mahlambi immediately after the break.
The changes seemed to give Bafana confidence as they played better, with Tau making some purposeful runs behind the Angolan defenders.
The first shot on target for Bafana came from Dolly but found keeper Adilson Cipriano da Cruz.
The home fans, who packed the stadium to capacity, were on their feet thinking Bafana had found the opener when Dolly’s low cross deflected off Bartolomeu Jacinto Quissanga and hit the side netting.
On the other side Angola midfielder Augusto Antonia Domingos Quibeto saw his long range shot just going over the bar but Keet had the shot covered.
Tau was replaced by Kermit Erasmus as Da Gama searched for his second consecutive win.
The Port Elizabeth-born Erasmus almost made immediate impact but his long range effort went over the bar.
Bafana had a chance to steal the game in the 90th minute when the Angolan keeper gave possession away instead of clearing the ball, but Erasmus was quickly closed down and did not have a chance to shoot into the open net.
The keeper also denied Rivaldo Coetzee in stoppage time after he connected with an Erasmus freekick but the keeper was perfectly positioned and tipped the ball over the bar for a corner kick.