Bafana to play in East London

BAFANA Bafana will be in East London next week for only the second time in 25 years of international competition‚ hoping to avoid the calamity of their last trip to the coastal city.

The friendly international against Angola next Tuesday is to be played at the Buffalo City Stadium as the national team makes a rare trip to the Eastern Cape.

While Port Elizabeth has played host to 10 previous Bafana matches‚ the only previous soccer international in East London was in 2003 when South Africa were bundled out of the Castle Cosafa Cup by Zimbabwe.

In a rare home defeat in a competitive international‚ South Africa lost by a single goal scored by Lazarus Muhoni after just 15 minutes.

Then Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba was kept away from the bench by the South African Football Association (Safa) and the squad chosen was experimental‚ hardly worthy of being given caps.

Zimbabwe went on to win the annual Southern African championship using players like Peter Ndlovu‚ Kaitano Tembo and Esrom Nyandoro.

Kenneth “Conti” Khubeka‚ the national under-23 coach at the time‚ handled the team in his only ever appearance as senior national team coach and Mashaba watched from the stands as an observer in a madcap idea from Safa that served to only devalue the Bafana brand.

The 1-0 defeat also marked the only time the Lamontville Golden Arrows defender Sphiwe Mkhonza captained the national team -- in only his second international appearance.

Safa belatedly announced on Sunday that East London would host the game.