WeeklySA_AdminPRIDE: BAFANA OUT TO REDEEM AFCON MISFORTUNE AT BRAVE WARRIORS’ EXPENSE
By Ali Mphaki
Whistles of derision directed at Bafana Bafana continue on a crescendo ahead of their second match against Namibia on Sunday night at the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations currently underway Ivory Coast.
Bafana Bafana face treasonous charges back home for plunging the national feelgood factor into its lowest ebb and nothing short of a positive result against neighbours minnows Namibia will palliate SA fans’ frayed nerves and throbbing heads come Monday morning.
Against a cartwheeling Mali on Tuesday night our Bafana Bafana capitulated in less than six minutes – two goals scored in the 60th and 66th minute – never recovering sufficient poise to at least score a goal, let alone equalise.
Talisman Percy Tau was a mirror of disbelieving despondency when he balooned a penalty deflating in the process what was overall a spirited display of football by coach Hugo Broos’charges in the first half.
Coming toe-to-toe with The Brave Warriors, as Namibia imagines itself, the lame excuse by Broos that Bafana Bafana lack the physicality of the West African players will not hold.
The Bafana Bafana camp, we told, has put the disappointment of losing their opening match behind them and will hope to bounce back from the setback at the same Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium.
The players understand what is at stake on Sunday and what is expected of them, as midfielder Teboho Mokoena explained to safa.net. “We know what we need to do better and what lies in front of us. It is not the start that we had wanted or set ourselves up for, but it is the result that we now have to stomach,” he said.
Namibia will go into this game against their neighbours on a high after beating Tunisa 1-0 on Tuesday.
Whatever happens Sunday, and clearly the most likely occurrence is a Bafana Bafana victory, both countries will be on display for Africa and the world to notice that southern Africa is also the place where the richest flowering of football is to be found.
Kick-off 10pm.
