Bafana beat Cape Verde 2-1
7 June 2004
Bafana Bafana captain Mbulelo Mabizela scored twice against Cape Verde in Bloemfontein on Saturday to ensure a 2-1 victory in the first game of South Africa's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Mabizela's first goal came in the 42nd minute through a powerful free kick outside the visitors' box.
The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder scored again in the 70th minute when he caught Cape Verde goalkeeper Jose Veiga napping with a 40-metre shot that swerved into the roof of the net.
Janicio Martins pulled one back for Cape Verde when he rounded Bafana goalkeeper Hans Vonk in the 78th minute and fired into the net.
Bafana, who struggled to play flowing football in the first 45 minutes, allowed Cape Verde too much room, especially in midfield, and were lucky not to have been punished for this. They also gave up possession easily and conceded a lot of free kicks inside their own half.
Bafana's strike force of Shaun Bartlett and Siyabonga
Nomvete also failed to click on the day, partly due to lack of ball supply from a lukewarm midfield of Benedict Vilakazi, Delron Buckley and Mabizela.
New Bafana coach Stuart Baxter said he was pleased to get the result in his first match since taking the job in April.
"The fact that we got the three points was important", Baxter said. "If you think about the whole game and the fact that I just came in to the job, you'll agree that the boys did a decent job."
However, for South Africa to qualify for Germany 2006, he warned, "we are going to have to be a lot more structured in our play".
Bafana's next Group 2 qualifier is away to Ghana on 20 June. This will be followed by games against Burkina Faso (2 July), the Democratic Republic of Congo (3 September), and Uganda (8 October).
On Thursday, four days after Bafana's win over Cape Verde, Baxter named a 20-man squad that will play against Ghana in Kumasi on 20 June.
The
squad:
Goalkeepers:
Moeneeb Josephs, Hans Vonk.
Defenders:
Marc Arber, Mark Fish, Jacob Lekgetho, Aaron Mokoena, Nasief Morris, Neil Winstanley.
Midfielders:
Delron Buckley, Stanton Fredericks, Mbulelo Mabizela, Benson Mhlongo, Steven Pienaar, MacBeth Sibaya, Elrio van Heerden, Sibusiso Zuma.
Strikers:
Shaun Bartlett, George Koumantarakis, Siyabonga Nomvete.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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