South Africa (1)1
Kekana 26
Mauritania (1)1
Guideye 16
Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit - What if. These two words are used so often when talking about Bafana Bafana that they might as well be written in their badge.
The side has a knack of turning up for meaningless games and friendlies but stutter when there is something to play for. That’s when the “what if’s” get thrown around. What if we had started like this? What if so-and-so had played instead of this one? But that changes nothing, with another dream having been dashed.
There wasn’t much to play for on Friday night, except for pride and places in the squad that will travel to Burkina Faso next month when Bafana start the World Cup qualifiers. Their Africa Cup of Nations’ dream died a long time ago. Mauritania, in Nouakchott, landed the first blow when they dismantled them 3-1. But even with a man advantage in the last 14 minutes, after Ismail Diakhite was sent off for two bookable offences, and the second choice goalkeeper in goals for the second half – Bafana couldn’t avenge that defeat.
There were a lot of similarities in this match from that 3-1 loss. Firstly the pitch played a factor. It was slippery this time around unlike the rough artificial pitch, much to the team’s surprise as coach Shakes Mashaba thought that they would be playing in grass, which greeted them at the Stade Olympique in September last year. Bafana handled this challenge better, having spent a week here.
Another similarity was a fullback on debut. But unlike Siyabonga Zulu, who had a torrid time in his first match for the senior national team which he capped with being sent off, Abbubaker Mobara had a good game. He was solid when he defended and threatening when he went forward in the right flank. That’s the side where Bafana’s equaliser came from with Mobara starting the attack and then feeding the ball to Mpho Makola who twisted and turned the Mauritanian defence before unleashing a powerful shot. He won a corner kick for his effort. Hlompho Kekana’s header gave the side their first goal in these qualifiers.
But before Kekana was the hero, he was a villain when the central midfield pairing of him and Andile Jali was easily stretched by Mauritania. The visitors strolled past them on their way to scoring a well-executed finish by the captain Dialo Guideye. Jali and Kekana found their shape after this incident, with Kekana even afforded space and time for his trademark long-range shots. But they didn’t trouble Brahim Souleymane in goal. He only had to worry about Thamsanqa Gabuza cluttering into him. Souleymane came off worse, forcing reserve ‘keeper Salah Boubacar to start the second half in his place.
Boubacar was quickly called into action, after watching Bafana’s attack trouble his defence without success. That wave of attack produced a penalty when Mohamed Wade handled the ball inside the box. Gabuza, Bafana’s leading goalscorer in these qualifiers who hasn’t seen much game time at Orlando Pirates, stepped up. He hit his penalty straight into the ‘keeper. Gabuza’s on-and-off relationship with South African fans took a turn for the worse, with the crowd cheering his substitution. The chorus of “what if’s” started being sang after the referee blew the final whistle. What if Gabuza had scored that penalty? Others went, what if someone else had taken it?
@extrastrongsa
Independent Media