MONWABISI JIMLONGO
THE manner in which Bafana Bafana lost possession easily during last night’s 2-1 victory over Colombia in an international friendly match at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg should be a cause for concern for national team coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira.
But Parreira would no doubt be happy that Teko Modise and Katlego Mphela’s goals were enough to give Bafana the win. The Colombians’ goal came via a penalty from Giovanni Moreno.
Bafana had a slow start to the game as their midfielders struggled to stamp their authority.
Parreira only had Bafana and Portsmouth captain Aaron Mokoena and Tsepo Masilela, as his only overseas-based players in the starting line up. For the second successive match, Parreira started with Thanduyise Khuboni and left holding midfielder, MacBeth Sibaya.
The Rubin Kazan player should be worried as the day to submit the final 23 players to Fifa draws nearer.All the 32 national teams must submit their final squad to Fifa by Tuesday.
There was a scare when Bafana goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune, was left prostrate on the Soccer City’s turf after colliding with a Colombian player in the 10th minute. But after receiving treatment, Khune stood up and continued the match much to the delight of the Bafana fans. However, it was clear that the Kaizer Chiefs stopper was hurt during the collision as he continued limping back to his in-goal area.
When play restarted after Khune was seen to, Bafana took the game to their opponents and were rewarded with a goal in the 17th minute.
Modise converted a controversial penalty awarded to Bafana by Kenyan referee Langat Samwel Kipngetich.
Initially, Colombian goalkeeper, David Ospina, saved Modise’s spot-kick but one of the Kenyan assistant referees adjudged him to have moved before he had kicked the ball.
But it wasn’t long before the Colombians silenced the vociferous crowd through Giovanni Moreno in the 20th minute. The Atletico Nacional midfielder netted a penalty following a foul by a limping Khune inside the box.
The manner in which Khune committed the foul showed that he was still hurting following the collision and it came as no surprise when Parreira brought on Moeneeb Josephs at the beginning of the second half.
And after netting the penalty, Moreno was a handful to Bafana as he threatened with every move. There were instances when the Colombians dominated the proceedings with Bafana midfielders like Modise, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Khuboni providing no answers.
This forced Parreira to pull out Letsholonyane and Khuboni, for Kagisho Dikgacoi and Pienaar respectively at the beginning of the second half.
It was then that the Bafana midfield started creating chances.
Bafana’s forays into the Colombian box reaped rewards, when Tshabalala was brought down inside the box in the 61st minute.
Mphela, who had had a quiet game up until then, made it 2-1 after converting the spot-kick. The introduction of Benni McCarthy was greeted with a loud applause when the West Ham United player replaced Surprise Moriri in the 68th minute. But McCarthy gave a performance that was really nothing to write home about.
Bafana’s final friendly match before they face Mexico in the opening game of the World Cup tournament on June 11, will be against Denmark at Super Stadium in Atteridgeville on June 5.
Source -www.dispatch.co.za
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