Bafana brought back to earth
ZAMBIA pulled off a huge surprise when they defeated South Africa 2-1 in an international friendly at the Moruleng Stadium last night.
Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter fielded a completely different starting team to the one that impressively defeated Nigeria in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Uyo over the weekend. Of the 11 changes Baxter made, it included debuts for Cape Town City winger Aubrey Ngoma and Kaizer Chiefs defender Lorenzo Gordinho, with central midfielder Andile Jali taking over the captaincy.
But because this was the first time this team had played together, they struggled to get going. They dominated possession, but still looked disjointed and it led to a scrappy opening period.
However, once Jali and midfield partner Tiyani Mabunda had grabbed hold of the midfield exchanges, and Lebogang Manyama started to pull the strings in attack, Bafana kicked into gear. Manyama and Mabunda hoofed two long range attempts wide before, in the 23rd minute, the South Africans took a 1-0 lead.
France-based Kermit Erasmus celebrated his return to the squad with a great run and cross, and it was Manyama, with a late run into the box, who headed in neatly. It was the Cape Town City captain’s first goal for Bafana.
An under-strength Zambia were clearly not interested in risking too much in attack in the first half.
They were happy to sit back, they tried to limit the space for the Bafana attackers, and they really got stuck-in in the tackle. As a result, despite the South Africans enjoying more than the lion’s share of possession, they weren’t able to create as many scoring opportunities as they would’ve liked.
But, in the second half, the Zambians came out with a greater purpose and enterprise, and made more of a game of it.
Paul Katema ran things in midfield for Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets), the nickname of the Zambian football team, as they gradually grew in belief that they could put one over the South Africans.
Bafana had changed goalkeepers at half-time, with Ronwen Williams taking the place of Darren Keet – and Williams was called on to make a world class save early in the second half when he acrobatically palmed away a fantastic shot from Donashano Malama.
South Africa made two changes, in keeping with Baxter’s promise to give players in the squad a run, with Francebased Lebogang Phiri replacing Ngoma and Thamsanqa Gabuza coming on for Erasmus. But Zambia kept plugging away, and the more Bafana took the foot off the pedal, the more the opposition pressed forward.
And the Zambians were rewarded in the 72nd minute when Brian Mwila levelled at 1-1. Seven minutes later, Zambia took a 2-1 lead when substitute Lubinda Mundia scored to seal a great comeback.
It served to finally shake Bafana from their second half slumber. Percy Tau and Gordinho had two inviting opportunities, but both were denied by fine stops from Zambian goalkeeper Allan Chibwe