After losing eight games in a streak, South Africa has finally tasted victory after beating Gabon 3-0 in an international friendly at Mbombela Stadium. After a draw against Botswana Steve Kompela currently caretaker coach released 7 players from the camp and his strategy seemed to have worked brilliantly.
Bafana Bafana who has been recently called Bafana Bafuni due to their performance proved to be tired of criticism as they showed determination in the first half of the game.
The first opportunity fell to Reneilwe Letsholonyane in the 15th minute but his shot went over the cross bar. In the 21st minute, Teko Modise Mamelodi Sundowns captain who is very unlucky when it comes to finding the back of net came close to scoring the fist goal but his shot was saved as usual.
Bafana Bafana clearly had a game plan, albeit at the wrong time, as they totally outplayed Gabon. The first half almost ended with 0-0 from both sides, but Siphiwe Tshabalala was given a chance to fire a free-kick and it went straight into the net putting Bafana Bafana on the lead by 1-0.
In the second half, Orlando Pirates Teko Rantie scored his very first goal for the national team and eight minutes just before the end of the match, Mzikayise Mashaba scored a third goal and Gabon was defeated by 3-0
Despite the fact that Bafana Bafana was playing against the under 23 team, the victory gave Khompela a good chance of being appointed as a coach for the team. Neil Tovey, Gavin Hunt, Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba and Gordon Igesund have been interviewed while Steve Komphela is being interviewed today.
We must not read too much into this game. South Africa played against the under 23s whose players were mostly under 20 and maybe a bit inexperienced too. As usual they won a friendly and have lost the important games and this makes me wonder what would have happened if we had faced real national team players.So once again Bafana Bafana danced for the wrong reason.
As much as this is not really a cause for celebration it will surely help boost our player’s confidence as it broke a winless streak.
