Afcon 2015 far from over for Bafana
Plenty for Bafana coach, Shakes Mashaba to chew on.
THE visuals spoke for themselves as Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba and his brains trust caucused on the touchline for ages after full time following the devastating defeat against Algeria in their opening Afcon fixture on Monday night.
‘What went wrong?’ was the post mortem question on the lips of the entire nation after the boys let slip a match they seemed destined to win at a canter.
The answer appears to be the failure to readjust the defensive structure after Algeria brought on two more strikers and reverted to a 4-4-2 formation midway through the second half and trailing 1-0 to a dominant SA side.
Three defensive lapses – a combination of poor marking, communication and covering – left gaps ruthlessly exploited by the continent’s top team.
Add to that the missed Tokelo Rantie penalty, the disastrous booboo in goals by Darren Keet and the failure to convert plenty of chances, and Bafana were architects of their own defeat.
But all is not lost.
It is evident that there is plenty of spark in the SA engine and there is no reason they can’t on Friday beat Senegal (late 2-1 winners over Ghana), as well as defeat Ghana on Tuesday to qualify for the next stage.
It remains to be seen whether Mashaba will retain his faith in Keet in the number one jersey, or opt for former Thanda Royal Zulu goalkeeper Brilliant Khuzwayo, who warmed the bench against Algeria.
