Defensive errors cost Bafana
28 January 2008A defensive implosion in the first half left Bafana Bafana trailing Tunisia 3-0 at halftime in their African Cup of Nations match in Tamale, Ghana on Sunday night. A late strike by Katlego Mphela made the final score 3-1, but the defeat leaves South Africa on the brink of exiting the tournament after the group stage is completed.
At a press conference after the game, SA coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said defensive errors at Cup of Nations' level would be punished, and so it proved in the game as Bafana gifted the Tunisians three opportunities, all of which they turned into goals.
Parreira also said the South Africans failed to impose themselves in the first half, while the second half was much better. By that time, however, it was too late.
Barker's thoughts
South Africa's 1996 Cup of Nations' winning coach Clive Barker gave his thoughts on the game on East Coast Radio, saying the defending reminded him of
Bafana's disastrous performance in their final qualifying game against Zambia in Cape Town, when SA found themselves 3-0 down only 20 minutes into the game.
He said central defender Benson Mhlongo wasn't up to the challenge, while the performance of goalkeeper Moneeb Josephs was also questionable.
Bafana Bafana, suggested Barker, might return to a more familiar 4-4-2 formation for their final group game against Senegal. He said captain Aaron Mokoena needed to return to central defence alongside Nasief Morris, with Mhlongo being left out.
South Africa was good between the two 18-yard areas, said Barker, but they were less impressive near goal at both ends of the field.
Hopes of victory raised
After an encouraging performance in a 1-1 draw with Angola, hopes of a victory were raised shortly before the game when the Angolans came from a goal behind at halftime to beat Senegal 3-1; Senegal and Tunisia had drawn 2-2 in their opening
Group D match.
After their win on Sunday, 2004 champions Tunisia top the group with four points and a positive goal difference of three goals. Angola also has four points and a positive difference of three goals, but has scored a goal less.
Senegal, with one point, is in third, ahead of South Africa on goal difference, because they have scored one goal more than Bafana Bafana.
What it means is South Africa will need a number of results to go their way in the final Group D matches on 31 January to progress in the tournament:
One thing that could play into South Africa's hands, although the possibility exists that it could bring the best out of the opposition, is that Senegal appear to be in some disarray. Their Polish coach Henri Kasperczak resigned only hours after the team's loss to Angola, leaving assistant Lamine Ndiaye to take charge of the side for their game against South Africa.
Attacking approach
On Sunday night against Tunisia, coach Parreira opted for an attacking approach, including Sibusiso Zuma, Lerato Chabangu, and "Terror" Fanteni up front, and early on it became clear that Bafana would try to test the Tunisian defences with long balls aimed at challenging the North Africans' pace at the back.
The "Carthage Eagles" managed to force three corners in the early going before Zuma, after combining well with Steven Pienaar, forced Tunisian goalkeeper Hamdi Kasraoui into a save that almost rebounded for Chabangu.
With eight minutes played Tunisia took the lead through striker Francileudo dos Santos, who scored with a diving header at the near post after a good cross from the right by Chaouki Ben Saada.
Ball-watching
Dos Santos benefited from a flat-footed defence that was guilty of ball-watching after a clearance from a corner. They allowed the striker space to run free and onto the cross with not a single defender close to him.
Play was scrappy as South Africa tried to fight their way back into the contest and Zuma and Pienaar again combined well to almost open things up for Bafana.
Fanteni was put clear after good approach play, but he was flagged for offsides. Radhi Jaidi then just beat Zuma to a long clearance by Josephs.
One-two punch
After 32 minutes the Tunisians moved two goals clear when Ben Saada beat Josephs. He tried a snap shot on goal and miscued it badly, but the ball fell kindly for Dos Santos who drilled his effort into the crossbar.
South Africa's defenders were again caught flat-footed, watching the shot as Ben Saada kept running, collected the ball and knocked it across the goal line.
Just two minutes later the score was 3-0 and the match effectively decided when Dos Santos netted his second after capitalising on a bad blunder by Nasief Morris.
The central defender chested a header down to his feet and after looking up saw Yassine Chikhaoui closing him down on his left. Morris pivoted and passed backwards to goalkeeper Josephs, but he hadn't seen Dos Santos, who had slipped in behind him.
The striker ran onto the ball and gathered it. Challenged by Josephs, he beat him to the goalkeeper's left and then had time to control the ball before sliding it over the goal line with his right foot.
Close to making amends
Morris came close to making amends for his dreadful error when he rattled the Tunisian crossbar with a header six minutes from the break.
The half time whistle sounded with South Africa in serious trouble, three goals adrift and with little chance of fighting their way back into the game.
Coach Parreira reacted by making a change at the break, replacing Chabangu with Elrio van Heerden, the scorer of Bafana's goal against Angola.
With just over five minutes played in the second stanza, Fanteni looked to be through on goal, but a tight call by the linesman went the way of Tunisia.
It appeared the North Africans were content with defending their three-goal lead when Sabeur Ben Frej, of African Champions League winners Etoile du Sahel, was booked for time wasting in the 56th minute.
More substitutions
Shortly after the hour mark, Fanteni missed the target after a header on from Zuma and he was then replaced by Katlego Mphela.
Parreira rolled the dice again five minutes later when he replaced Tsepo Masilela with Brett Evans.
Dos Santos then missed a golden opportunity to put the Carthage Eagles 4-0 in front and secure a hat-trick when he somehow missed from close range after being set up by Chikhaoui.
Van Heerden, who had looked impressive since coming on, fashioned a chance for Pienaar, but he failed to find the mark.
With time running out, Van Heerden could have had his second goal in just two second half outings, but he lifted the ball over the net from close range.
Consolation goal
A minute later and with three minutes left in regulation time, Bafana Bafana finally broke through the Tunisians' defence. Neat footwork from Pienaar set up Mphela and he scored from right in front of goal.
When the final whistle sounded, Tunisia had clinched a 3-1 victory thanks to three instances of poor defending by South Africa.
Apart from those lapses, Bafana Bafana put in a reasonably decent performance but, as Parreira remarked, such errors are punished at Cup of Nations' level.
The 2010 Fifa World Cup hosts have left themselves with a mountain to climb to move beyond the group stages.
If South Africa fail to advance, it would mark the third time in succession that the team couldn't progress further than the group matches.
African Cup of Nations freefall
It has been downhill for SA since they first contested the competition in 1996 when they won on home soil.
In 1998, Bafana lost 2-0 to Egypt in the final. Two years later, SA finished third after beating Tunisia on a penalty shootout in the playoffs. In 2002, Mali defeated South Africa 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
In 2004, in Tunisia, Bafana Bafana finished third in Group D and were thus eliminated. Matters reached an all-time low in 2006 when SA not only finished bottom of Group C, they also failed to score a goal in the finals.
It is a worrying trend. However, there is still some hope that South Africa will advance to the playoffs in Ghana, as slim as that hope may be.
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