Johannesburg — Bafana Bafana returned to winning ways with a thumping 4-0 victory over bogey team Sierra Leone on Saturday afternoon.
National team returnee Themba Zwane stole the show for the hosts with a well taken brace as Bafana powered their way past an out-of-their-depth Leone Stars.
Bafana coach Hugo Broos heaped praise on the Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder.
"Themba was not just good today, he was very good and I was very happy today," he said in his post-match interview
"I said already that only fools don't change their minds. I knew he was a good player, but we started building in September with young players and I wanted to give the young players a chance first, but he just kept improving and maybe he was the missing link in our team.
"On the other side, it's very important that we are careful and we don't get very happy. This isn't France, Ghana or Morocco, but then again the performance of Themba was very good today."
Broos handed debut opportunities to Zakhele Lepasa, Luke Leroux and Mihlali Mayambela, who also found the back of the net. The Belgian mentor admitted there was an element of nerves on his side as he hoped his new look team would do well.
"You know there's always something in your mind as a coach because you’re hoping that when the game starts you see what you want to see," he said
"It was definitely not what I saw in the last games and I said to the players as well that this is the moment where they could start something new; and they shouldn't spoil the moment, and they certainly didn't do that so I have to congratulate them."
Sphephelo Sithole and new boy Leroux ran proceedings, affording Mshishi the opportunity to express himself fully and setting up a dominant Bafana display.
Broos revealed that his main priority in setting up this matchup against Sierra Leone, who are placed 107th in the Fifa world ranking, was mainly to re-establish a sense of confidence within his squad as he prepares for the upcoming Afcon qualifiers.
"First of all, for us it was important to have an opponent that is less stronger than the other ones, so we can boost our confidence," Broos explained.
"It wasn't only about me, but there was a lot of negativity against the national team and about me as a coach recently, so it was important for us to perform well today and we did, scoring four goals, putting on good performances and hopefully we can take that into next week Tuesday."
Bafana's second friendly of the international break will pit them against neighbours Botswana at the FNB Stadium.
IOL Sport