Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has weighed in on the performance of the national team after they started their Fifa Series on an uninspiring note with a draw against Andorra.
In what was a game Bafana were expected to cruise and produce a cricket score, the Africa Cup of Nations’ bronze medalists were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by a 164th-ranked Andorran side in Annaba, Algeria, in the early hours of Friday morning.
Andorra took the lead as early as five minutes into the game when Ricardo Fernandez probably scored the easiest goal of his career when he tapped in the ball inside an empty net.
Goalkeeping mistake
This was after a howler by goalkeeper Ricardo Goss, who could not sort out his feet and deal with a back pass from Thapelo Morena.
However, 20 minutes later, Sekhukhune United’s Elias Mokwana, who was the liveliest and one of the standout players on the night, found the equaliser on his debut.
Other debutants were Orlando Pirates duo Thapelo Xoki and Patrick Maswanganyi, as well as AmaZulu’s Mlondi Mbanjwa.
“Even with that little present we gave to Andorra, we could’ve won the game,” Broos told Safa Media after the match.
“I’m satisfied, but not with the result. I tried to win today. I’m satisfied with the performance of this team — a totally new team. I’m certainly satisfied with some of the players.
“They’ve given me much satisfaction, and I think they are the guys on whom we can count on in the next games in June and by the end of the year.”
Misfiring in front of goal
Despite their overall dominance and creating more goal-scoring opportunities, Broos said the misfiring in front of goal was enough to prove that Bafana still lack a deadly striker.
“It was also the goal for us to give [new] players a chance to get experience,” Broos said.
“I think we showed again. Shall I say the problem of South African football is that we don’t really have that scorer, the guy who gets one chance and scores a goal?
“If you look at the six or seven chances we’ve had today, we only scored once.”
Bafana will close off the Fifa Series when they play Algeria at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Algiers on Tuesday.
