Mongomo –The mental scars from last night’s Africa Cup of Nations defeat to Algeria were still fresh on the psyche of Bafana Bafana this morning.
As the players left the Estadio de Mongomo you could see the disappointment on their faces. Even the eternally cheerful captain Dean Furman couldn’t hide the sick feeling in his stomach, as this Bafana side threw away a historic victory and three crucial tournament points.
The Desert Foxes, the current top-ranked team in Africa and one of the few sides to run the eventual champions Germany close at last year’s World Cup, were made to look extremely ordinary.
For about 10 minutes either side of halftime they were swept aside by the pace and the guile of Bafana.
However, the finishing disease, that has plagued South African football for the better part of a decade, reared its ugly head again at the most inappropriate time. It again proved to be Bafana’s Achilles heel, and their lack of a killer instinct in front of goal has put the team on the back foot for the rest of the group stage.
They essentially have to beat both Senegal (Friday) and Ghana (next Tuesday) to reach the quarter-final stage of the tournament.
Last night Bafana were possibly a penalty kick away from pulling off the first major upset of the tournament. But after Tokelo Rantie’s spot kick rattled the crossbar, things went pear-shaped for Bafana.
Thuso Phala had given South Africa the lead after a sweeping move that ended in a trifecta of one-touch passes before the ball found the back of the Algerian net. Another high-paced attack a few minutes later earned Bafana a penalty. The momentum was clearly on their side. Now Rantie just had to perform the last rights and bury his penalty.
Sadly for South Africa he missed. And what followed was a scintillating comeback by the tournament favourites. After being rubbish for the better part of an hour, they suddenly woke up from their slumber and found a higher gear, a gear only championship contenders seem to find when the chips are down.
They wiped away the lead with a freak own goal by the courageous Thulani Hlatshwayo, which knocked Bafana between the eyes. And through the tears, South Africa didn’t see the two knockout blows that followed soon afterwards.
Mashaba has three days to try and lift his team ahead of their meeting with the physical Senegalese, who started off their tournament with a 2-1 stoppage-time win over Ghana. But the coach, who lost his first game in charge of his third tenure with the national team, is confident they can bounce back.
“We still have a long way to go and I thought the boys did well. But unfortunately you are judged by the result of the game,” Mashaba said.
“We need to lift the guys, motivate and talk to them and bring them back to their peak.
“We won’t have a lot of talk about the defeat. We are just going to remind the players of the do’s and don’ts of the game. If you look what happened, we should have killed this team.”
Indeed, and Mashaba singled out Rantie’s penalty miss as the turning point in the match.
The English-based striker copped a lot of flack on Twitter last night because of that error. But he was actually outstanding alongside the likes of midfielders Andile Jali, Sibusiso Vilakazi and Oupa Manyisa, as well as the flying left back Thabo Matlaba.
On another day that penalty would have sneaked under the bar. But unfortunately it proved to be the defining moment in the match.
“Let me start off by saying the best team lost on the day,” Mashaba said.
“We created a lot of chances in the first half. But after we missed that penalty everything went awry.
“I must say Algeria were lucky to come back. I think we had lost focus when they came back and scored those goals,” Mashaba added.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Rivaldo Coetzee’s tournament may be over after coming off in the 29th minute with a knee injury.
The Ajax Cape Town central defender was treated for the same ailment before the competition.
“I doubt that he will take further part in this tournament. He was limping badly. Unless our medical staff can sort him out, for now I have ruled him out,” Mashaba said.
Eric Mathoho, who was suspended for last night’s match, will come straight into the team on Friday. - The Star