Bafana Bafana labour to flat win against weak Zebras

From dishing out an entertaining performance against Sierra Leone on the weekend Bafana Bafana delivered a mediocre display on Tuesday night in their dull 1-0 friendly international victory over Botswana.

Midfielder Teboho Mokoena scored the only goal in the first half as SA struggled to convincingly put the weak, 146th-ranked Zebras to the sword at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday night.

As promised, Bafana coach Hugo Broos started the match with a completely different starting line-up to the previous game against Sierra Leone on Saturday at the same venue. Against the Leone Stars, SA recorded a convincing 4-0 victory that was Broos’s biggest win as Bafana coach.

The coach had pledged ahead of the two September friendly internationals to give all the players in his 23-man squad a run in the matches that are serving as preparation for the back-to-back 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Liberia in March.

Against Botswana the Belgian coach handed debuts to Pule Mmodi, Ashley du Preez and Siyanda Msani.

Except for the goal by Mokoena, the first half produced few exciting moments.

Mokoena opened the scoring in the 38 minute and brought some life to a dull opening half. The Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder scoring through a low free-kick.

Other than Mokoena’s goal, Du Preez had a chance to find the back of the net but failed to control the ball with no goalkeeper to beat in the 27th minute.

The second half saw a marginal improvement in performance from both sides as they made some effort to attack with more intent.

Botswana almost found an equaliser when Mosha Gailaolwe broke out and went past Bafana goalkeeper Veli Mothwa, but defender Rushine de Reuck was there to spare the goalie’s blushes.

The Zebras would feel that luck was not on their side as Tumisang Orebonye hit woodwork during the referee’s optional time.