Bafana fail to score against Congo
Brad Morgan
4 September 2006
Bafana Bafana's lack of a cutting edge was again on display at the weekend as the team played to a goalless draw against Congo at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, in an African Cup of Nations qualifier.
Although the team, watched by coach-in-waiting Carlos Alberto Parreira and coached by stand-in Pitso Mosimane, dominated the contest, they failed to turn their advantage into goals.
It wasn't all of their own doing, however. An early appeal for a penalty, after a cross from Siyabonga Nomvete appeared to catch a Congo defender on the hand, was rejected by the referee.
Chances
Surprise Moriri came close after 26 minutes with a strong shot that passed narrowly over the goalkeeper, while Nomvete's chip on 34 minutes was safely handled by Barel Mouko.
In the second half, Bafana Bafana were again in charge, but their goal-shy ways continued.
Abram Raselemane, just after the hour mark, could have
put South Africa in front, but he somehow managed to miss from only a metre out.
It appeared that all the pressure had finally told when Dillon Sheppard put the ball in the back of the net after 73 minutes, but the referee appeared to rule that substitute Benedict Vilakazi was offside, and interfering with play, when Sheppard struck his shot.
Headed wide
Aaron Mokoena had a great chance to pull out a late victory for the home side, with only five minutes left to play, but he directed his header wide of the goals.
After the game, it was clear that the nil-nil result went down far better with the Congolese than it did with the home side.
Congo coach Noel Tosi was in a jovial mood, telling the media that his defensive game plan had worked to perfection, while Bafana's coach, Pitso Mosimane, viewed the result as two points dropped.
Mosimane lamented the lack of a finisher, saying he had employed five players on attack, but
with no reward.
Critical of decision
He was also critical of referee Sharaf Aboubaka's decision to disallow Dillon Sheppard’s goal on 73 minutes. Mosimane said he approached the ref about his decision and was told it was because the ball had crossed the dead ball line before it was crossed.
"I still cannot understand why the goal was not given," he said. "I'm amazed."
Reflecting on the goal drought, Mosimane said South Africa missed Blackburn Rovers' striker Benni McCarthy, and the team was also hampered by the late injury withdrawal of Groningen forward Glen Salmon.
Parreira's views
Parreira gave his thoughts on the game, saying that Congo had chosen to come into the contest with a negative approach and it worked. He suggested the Congolese might be more attacking at home, which would hopefully result in more attacking opportunities for South Africa.
However, he was mostly
non-committal, not offering up much in the way of concrete observations. One thing would have been clear to him, though, South Africa needs to start finding a scoring touch, and that needs to happen as soon as possible.
| 
