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Bafana fail to fire against Ireland

Brad Morgan

9 September 2009

Bafana Bafana's finishing woes were again apparent in Limerick on Tuesday night, as Joel Santana's charges went down 1-0 to a second-string Irish team despite dominating possession.

Bafana enjoyed 68 percent of the possession – more than twice as much as Ireland – but it didn't translate into a victory. "It's a good thing that we controlled the game tonight, even more so given the changes we have made on this trip. We just could not score," said South African skipper Aaron Mokoena.

Given his side's struggles in front of goal, Mokoena was asked about the possibility of coach Santana recalling South Africa's record goal scorer, Benni McCarthy. That, he said, was something for Santana to consider.

Mokoena also played down talk of the Irish team being a weak side, saying that most of the team play their club football in England, where they are respected.

Lack of a cutting edge

The true measure of Bafana's lack of a cutting edge up front can be found in the fact that Irish goalkeeper Keiren Westwood didn't have to make a difficult save the entire night, despite South Africa's overwhelming advantage in possession. Sadly, it was a familiar story for SA: pretty football, but no reward for it.

After a run of five victories in succession – a South African record, which was ended earlier this year – Bafana Bafana now find themselves having lost six matches in a row, with less than a year to go until the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Admittedly, their losses have come against some of the world's top teams. In fact, four of the losses were to top 10 teams (world ranking in brackets) – Brazil (1), Spain (2) twice, and Germany (4) – while the other defeats came against Serbia (13) and Ireland (38). So, no easy games there.

The thing is, though, that South Africa needs to start winning, or at least drawing, some of the country's matches against top teams. If they don't, Bafana Bafana are going to have a very short World Cup experience.

Controlled play

Ireland, at Thomond Park, included only three men who had been in action in a World Cup qualifier in Cyprus on Saturday. Bafana, to their credit, controlled play against the second-stringers.

Morgan Gould tried a shot for South Africa in the first minute, but fired high over the crossbar. Katlego Mphela also failed to keep a shot down, while Steven Pienaar created an opportunity for Bernard Parker, but the striker's shot was weak.

Pienaar then struck a free-kick narrowly over the bar in the 22nd minute, while a strike from Kagisho Dikgacoi was deflected away from the goal.

Pienaar was pulling the strings in midfield and continually asking questions of Ireland's defenders with his searching through balls, which forced the home side to defend in depth. The Everton man, however, blotted his copybook when he was booked for charging out of the wall early after the Irish had been awarded a free kick a foul by Benson Mhlongo on Caleb Folan.

Top corner

A re-take was awarded and Stoke City's Liam Lawrence found the top corner of the Bafana Bafana goals to put the home team in front after 37 minutes. It was his first goal for his country.

Just before the break, some sharp passing created space for Tsepo Masilela, but he chose to shoot from a tight angle when a pass to any of three players in a better position, close to the goals, was on.

After half-time, South Africa continued to dominate, but Ireland managed to test SA goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez on a number of occasions.

Darron Gibson was narrowly wide with a long distance blast, while Leon Best, who managed a number of shots after coming on in the 59th minute for Kevin Doyle, forced the South African net-minder into a good block.

Close to a second

Lawrence came close to scoring a second goal, but his shot was deflected wide of the goals.

Pienaar was almost rewarded for his industry, but substitute Darren O'Dea flung himself in front of the midfielder's strike to block the shot.

South Africa will have an opportunity to restore some confidence against easier opposition when they host Madagascar in Kimberley on 17 September. While Bafana Bafana are ranked 73rd by Fifa, Madagascar is ranked 58 places lower at 131.