Gabuza’s penalty agony
Kekana header saves bumbling Bafana’s blushes
rough artificial pitch, much to the team’s surprise as coach Shakes Mashaba thought that they would be playing on grass, which greeted them at the Stade Olympique in September last year.
Bafana handled this challenge better, having spent a week here.
Another similarity was a fullback on debut. But, unlike Siyabonga Zulu, who had a torrid time in his first match for the senior national team which he capped by being sent off, Abbubaker Mobara had a good game.
He was solid in defence and threatening when he went forward on the right flank.
That’s the side where Bafana’s equaliser came from with Mobara starting the attack and feeding the ball to Mpho Makola who twisted and turned the Mauritanian defence before unleashing a powerful shot. He won a corner kick for his effort. Hlom- pho Kekana’s header gave the side their first goal in these qualifiers.
But before Kekana turned hero, he was a villain when he and his central midfield partner Andile Jali were easily stretched by Mauritania. The visitors strolled past them on their way to scoring a well-executed finish by the captain Dialo Guideye.
Jali and Kekana found their shape after this incident, with Kekana even afforded space and time for his trademark longrange shots. But they didn’t trouble Brahim Souleymane in goal. He only had to worry about Thamsanqa Gabuza cluttering into him. Souleymane came off worse, forcing reserve goalkeeper Salah Boubacar to start the second half.
Boubacar was quickly called into action, after watching Bafana’s attack trouble his defence. That wave of attack produced a penalty when Mohamed Wade handled the ball inside the box.
Gabuza, Bafana’s leading goalscorer in these qualifiers who hasn’t seen much game time at Orlando Pirates, stepped up. He hit his penalty straight to the ’keeper. Gabuza’s on-off relationship with South African fans took a turn for the worse, with the crowd cheering his substitution. The chorus of “what if ” started being sang after the referee blew the final whistle. What if Gabuza had scored that penalty?