Bafana rein in hapless Stallions
|Published
Burkina Faso failed to provide South Africa with the warm-up they needed. Burkina Faso failed to provide South Africa with the warm-up they needed.
They were punted as South Africa’s strongest opposition in a while, a tough west African side to provide Bafana Bafana with a perfect drill ahead of their final two continental qualifiers in the coming weeks.
Instead, Burkina Faso resembled lambs at the slaughter on Wednesday night, succumbing meekly and offering absolutely no resistance as they were truly battered.
Katlego Mphela helped himself to a brace, while captain Siphiwe Tshabalala also got on to the scoresheet on definitely Bafana’s easiest evening since they overwhelmed Guatemala at Polokwane just before the World Cup last year.
That 5-0 pasting of the Guatemalans remains SA’s record victory at this level, but how Pitso Mosimane’s lads failed to set a new winning margin here remains a mystery. There simply was no opposition – just an outfit put together with much haste and no preparation.
Perhaps we should not be surprised Burkina Faso were so poor: on Monday they had just 10 players here for their first practice session; their squad numbers were swelled by the arrival of five of their players on the morning of the match. It smacks of unprofessionalism, yet we were told by those in charge that the Stallions had committed to bringing their best available team. This was far from it, as some of the Burkinabe apparently opted to remain at their European clubs, reasoning domestic leagues there were starting this weekend.
While the opposition were amateurish, Bafana should be commended for a truly professional performance, which might be of use when they take on Niger in a Nations Cup qualifier next month.
For starters, Mosimane managed to try out new combinations. Injuries had seen Bafana’s key players such as Anele Ngcongca and Steven Pienaar withdraw from the side, but Mosimane will have drawn inspiration from their replacements.
He took most by surprise by departing from his usually rigid manner of doing things, throwing Thulani Serero and Dylon Claasen into the starting XI. Both didn’t disappoint as they had a hand in all the goals scored.
It was a darting Serero run that drew a foul from Burkina Faso’s Moussa Doumbia, enabling Mphela to fire in a superb free-kick past Germain Sanou, the goalkeeper.
Claasen then got a fortunate touch that allowed Tshabalala, in his 60th appearance for Bafana, to score his eighth international goal after the ball bobbled in the penalty area following a throw-in.
At 2-0 before the 20th minute, the contest was all but over, no doubt to the disappointment of the sparse crowd. They had been sold the notion that their national side would be playing Africa’s fourth ranked side, only to see what appeared a third division team that could hardly string together three passes.
At least the Burkinabe showed signs of improvement in the second half when Itumeleng Khune got involved in the game for the first time.
The Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper had to parry two dangerous balls in his area, and, late on, Burkina Faso had what looked a valid penalty claim turned down after Morgan Gould had clumsily tackled one of their attackers.
But that was not before Mphela, with his 21st Bafana goal, put the match beyond doubt after a delightful Serero through pass.
While Mosimane could draw solace from the brilliance of his side, not least the young players thrown into the starting XI, the benefits of playing against such weakened opposition – aside from perhaps an improved ranking – were not immediately clear.
Even Niger were not this pathetic when they were here.