Sad stalemate dulls bid start
South Africa 0 Jamaica 0
Bafana Bafana and Jamaica tried valiantly to create some sort of spectacle to do justice to the occasion at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday night.
Alas, both teams just never had the quality - and the international friendly match to mark the national and continental launch of South Africa's bid for the 2010 World Cup finals petered out into a dull, lifeless draw.
It was a pity as Cape Town's soccer supporters came out and packed the newly revamped 12 000-seater Athlone Stadium and created a festive atmosphere.
But the teams just never played along. Both made too many mistakes and gave the ball away too often.
Some of the errors were so elementary, it was embarrassing. An aspect of the game as simple as a throw-in was occasionally messed up by what were supposed to be professional, international standard footballers.
Jamaica were content to contain and hope to catch Bafana on the break. They had a few chances, but goalkeeper Brian Baloyi dealt efficiently with everything the "Reggae Boyz" threw at him.
Bafana, in contrast, passed it around with aplomb at times, but too often things would break down outside the penalty area.
And when scoring opportunities were fashioned, Bafana's strikers, Lesley Manyathela and Nkosinathi Nhleko, were not good enough to turn promising build-ups into goals.
Manyathela is out of his depth at this level, while Nhleko looked overweight and out of shape.
Bafana were also not helped by central midfielder Teboho Mokoena having a complete shocker. The Jomo Cosmos player was outstanding in the World Cup last year, but his form has tapered off badly.
He has not been at his best at club level and last night nothing went right for the unfortunate footballer. Everything he did proved to be a disaster. Passes went astray, possession was surrendered and his positional play was naive - it was a performance in a Bafana jersey Mokoena would quickly want to forget.
Just why he remained on the pitch for the full 90 minutes only coach Shakes Mashaba will know.
It was Jamaica who started off the better, with Omar Daley's shot deflecting off a Bafana defender, forcing a wonderful reflex save from Baloyi.
Baloyi was heading one way but the ball was screaming in the other direction. It looked a certain goal, but Baloyi, somehow or other, managed to change direction and palm the ball away.
The Jamaicans initially impressed with their pace and power on the ball, especially explosive Bolton Wanderers forward, Jermaine Johnson. But, as things settled, it was obvious they would be happy with a draw. Clearly their main intention on Wednesday night was not to lose.
For Bafana, everything revolved around the mesmerising Sibusiso Zuma. The long-striding, almost elastic-legged Zuma showed he was cut above the rest of the players - clearly international class, the real article, not the pretend type like so many others on the field.
With the forwards out of touch, it was left to Zuma and Stanton Fredericks to get into scoring positions, but Jamaican goalkeeper and captain, Donovan Ricketts was equal to the task.
Jamaica's Gerald Neil nearly put the ball into his own net on the stroke of full-time, but Ricketts reacted quickly to avert the danger. It was justice done, as it would have been a tragedy if one of these teams had won last night.
Bafana:
Brian Baloyi, Lucky Lekgwati, Mbulelo Mabizela, Tony Coyle, Mandla Zwane, Mcbeth Sibaya, Teboho Mokoena, Stanton Fredericks, Sibusiso Zuma, Nkosinathi Nhleko (Joel Seroba 62nd), Lesley Manyathela.
Jamaica:
Donovan Ricketts, Gerald Neil, Claude Davis, Tyrone Marshall, Michael Johnson, Omar Daley, Jermaine Johnson (Cornel Chin-Sue 87th), Fitzroy Simpson, Damion Stewart, Paul Hall, Daren Byfield (Fabian Taylor 78th)