Draw makes Bafana’s Libya match tricky
South Africa will need a point away from home
Bafana Bafana have left it until the last game to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations after their 1-1 draw with Nigeria at the FNB Stadium yesterday.
With the result, Nigeria have booked their qualification in Group E as they are now on 10 points. The final qualification spot in the group will be contested between SA and Libya.
SA are now on nine points while Libya are third with seven points. Seychelles are out of contention at the bottom with one point. That leaves Bafana with two options to either beat Libya at most or play to a draw at the least to qualify for the continental finals.
Bafana will now travel to North Africa to face the emboldened Libyans, who yesterday thrashed Seychelles 8-1, in the deciding game in March.
Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr had said they were looking for revenge for last year’s 2-0 loss, and their play in the opening minutes was exactly that. That 2017 Bafana victory was their first competitive win over nemesis Nigeria with the only other being a friendly in the Nelson Mandela Challenge in 2004. Prior to yesterday’s game, both teams had played 13 times with Bafana winning only two and losing seven with four draws.
The visitors had the stronger start to the match and took advantage of Bafana’s anxious first minutes. The West Africans used their sheer brute strength to overwhelm Bafana into conceding an opening goal in the ninth minute.
Samuel Kalu was too slippery for Sfiso Hlanti to handle and the Nigerian attacker delivered a cross that deflected off the shoulder of Buhle Mkhwanazi and into own net.
As was expected, Bafana went with a Mamelodi Sundowns central midfield pairing of Hlompho Kekana and Tiyani Mabunda. The two though were fortunate that their counterparts were not taking advantage shaky midfield.
Nigeria concentrated their play on the flanks, with Kalu on the right and Iheanacho Kelechi on the left in the firsthalf.
With the balance of the match on the side of the visitors, it was that man, Percy Tau, who came to the rescue of Bafana once again. Tau burst through the defensive-line with his fox-like agility to lay
of
their the ball off to Lebo Mothiba for an easy tap-in in the 26th minute.
Having proven that they can take each other on pound for pound, the chances became fewer and fewer as the match progressed. Heading into the match all eyes were on how well Arsenal star Alex Iwobi would perform against SA, but the youngster had a timid game and was pretty much neutralised by Kekana. South Africa Under-17 women’s team coach Simphiwe Dludlu admitted that they lost to a better side after their 6-0 humiliation by Japan on Friday in their second match of the Fifa U17 World Cup in Uruguay.
The result leaves Bantwana on the brink of elimination from the tournament as they have only one point from two matches and have to face the equally desperate Brazil on Tuesday. “The jitters of the first game were gone but we lost because we played against a team that is better than us technically‚” Dludlu admitted after the humbling.
“It was a better game to play‚ I know it sounds a bit crazy because we lost 6-0‚ but the girls had better confidence than the first game. It was a good game to watch also and it tells us about the gap between the two teams with regards to philosophy and development,” said Dludlu.
“I can safely say our girls have learned lessons from this. We had our good moments here and there during the game and if we were clinical we could have converted one or two of our chances.”
After such a sizeable defeat‚ Dludlu has a huge task on her hands to motivate the players for the clash against Brazil next week. Like‚ Bantwana‚ with just a point Brazil are desperate for a win to stand a chance of progressing.