MATSHELANE MAMABOLO
OF COURSE, it is all about the result. How it is achieved is merely secondary. And so the celebrations that met the final whistle of Bafana Bafana’s 3-2 defeat of South Sudan in Juba yesterday were justified.
South Africa’s senior national team will be bringing home three points from their second Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, and that’s what matters, right?
That it came at the death, when many of the country’s fans’ hearts were in their throats and those with high blood pressure were reaching for their medication should be neither here nor there. Or is it?
There surely has to be a case for lamenting Bafana leaving things as late as they have in these two opening matches – Hugo Broos’ team needing last-minute goals to secure points against both Uganda last Friday and now South Sudan.
Granted, the glass half-full brigade will be full of praise for the coach’s educated substitutions, which helped to turn things around and you can bet the Orlando Pirates faithful are sure to nickname young Thalente Mbatha the ‘super sub’. And perhaps rightly so, for what else do you name a player who comes off the bench in two successive matches to score crucial goals?
Just as he did at Orlando Stadium when he scored the equaliser against Uganda, Mbatha again saved Bafana from what would have been an embarrassing result by scoring in injury time having come off the bench once more. It was a fabulous strike from the edge of the box after he’d controlled a headed clearance by the home side’s defence after a Teboho Mokoena free kick from the right.
Cue wild celebrations both on the field and on the bench by a South African team that had been expected to have little trouble dispatching a team more than 110 places below them in the Fifa rankings.
THALENTE MBATHA SCORES IN THE LAST MINUTES OF THE GAME AND WINS THE GAME FOR SOUTH AFRICA !!!! ITS HIM AGAIN !!!!
— Janty (@CFC_Janty) September 10, 2024
South Sudan 2-3 South Africa 🇿🇦
pic.twitter.com/jUTaAZR6Jd
It could easily have gone pear-shaped, though, and on the strength – some would say weakness – of the two performances against Uganda and South Sudan, supposedly Group K’s lowly outfits, qualification for Morocco next year cannot be taken for granted.
Broos’ team are going to need to be much more organised and solid defensively while their abilities in the final third can definitely be sharpened more. Shipping in four goals in two matches against opposition not renowned for their scoring prowess has to be cause for concern.
With both Veli Mothwa and Siipho Chaine being breached twice each, it is clear that a lot of work needs to be done to ensure that goalkeeper and skipper Ronwen Williams’ absence is not felt as much.
In debutant Chaine’s defence, though, there was clearly a big failing by his central defensive pairing of Siyabonga Ngezana and Rushwin Dortley – the former conceding the early penalty that Tito Okello slotted home to give South Sudan the lead. Then after the break, the duo failed to clear a free kick and in the goalmouth scramble that ensued, Valentino Yuel was allowed to slot home the equaliser.
It looked like yet another 2-2 draw for Bafana but Broos’ change – which saw Mbatha and his Bucs teammate Relebohile Mofokeng, as well as Elas Mokwana entering the fray – did the trick yet again. Mbatha scored his second of the qualifiers to add to Oswin Appollis’ brace as South Africa went level on four points with Uganda who will top the group thanks to a better goal difference.
A lot has to be done prior to the back-to-back clashes with Congo Brazzaville if Bafana are to make us confident of booking tickets to Morocco before Christmas.