Bafana still on road to Russia
IT WAS mission accomplished as South Africa strolled into the final round of World Cup qualifying with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Angola at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban last night.
The visitors gift-wrapped Bafana Bafana’s 3-1 first-leg win with an own goal in the second half as they wilted under the weight of the two-goal deficit that they tried in vain to close.
The scorer of Angola’s home goal, Jacinto Dala, hit the woodwork in the 56th minute, before the decisive own goal killed the clash.
Even with eight changes to the side, Angola were a cohesive lot early on as they drove a three-man attack with pace and power towards goal.
Dala spearheaded their frontline, with Alfredo Ribeiro on the left and Menga Dolly bulldozing on the opposite flank with aggression and occasional pace that belied his bulk.
Dala, known as Gelson, tried to replicate the heroics of his second-minute goal from the first leg with a first-minute strike last night.
Fortunately, it was a tame effort for goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane.
The captain was otherwise lucky not to be punished for fumbling two crosses during Angola’s early raids. And when Dolly switched to the left, he breezed past Erick Mathoho in the 39th minute, and whipped a low cross into the area, only to see it miss everyone.
As announced by Bafana coach Ephraim Mashaba the night before, the team saw three changes, two of them forced.
Thulani Hlatshwayo replaced the injured Anele Ngcongca at right-back, and Dean Furman took the place of midfielder Andile Jali, who was red-carded in the first leg and released from camp.
One tactical change saw Mpho Makola replace Thulani Serero, who dropped to the bench, while Mabokgwane retained the captain’s armband.
Apart from midfielder Osvaldo Diniz’s failure to convert off one of Mabokgwane’s aerial bloopers, the goalkeeper was untroubled in the first half as shots often flew off target.
Holding a two-goal advantage after their 3-1 away win, South Africa were relaxed and predictably waited to turn over possession before pouncing on the counter.
Tokelo Rantie twice almost benefited from that approach, but was isolated. Bongani Zungu and Mandla Masango sporadically connected almost telepathically, but too far from goal to threaten Angola, who hurried back in numbers to defend.
Before the two-legged affair, Mashaba said the most important thing was to start well in Benguela, get some goals and come back home to finish off.
Angola’s 67th-minute own goal from Diniz duly finished off the contest as their hearts sank and South Africa’s attacking spirit grew stronger.
With the fresh legs of attackers Sibusiso Vilakazi and Serero, on for Mpho Makola and Thamsanqa Gabuza respectively, the home crowd of just more than 10 000 had a bit more to cheer about.
South Africa joined 19 other African nations for the third and final qualification phase. The 20 countries will be pooled into five groups for a mini-league competition starting late next year. The five group winners will go to the 2018 Russia World Cup.
This was South Africa’s fifth match of the year against Angola.
The coach will hope that last night’s success reignites their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying programme.
Next they tackle Cameroon in back-to-back games, first away on March 23, and then three days later in Durban.