Bafana take heart from Gold Cup
Brad Morgan
18 July 2005
South Africa was eliminated from the Concacaf Gold Cup after losing narrowly against Panama in Houston on Sunday.
Coach Stuart Baxter will be encouraged, however. Despite an inexperienced line-up, Bafana showed they can compete at the top level, drawing twice and beating world sixth-ranked Mexico on their way to the quarterfinals.
It took a penalty shootout to separate South Africa and Panama, with the teams level at 1-1 before the Panamanians advanced 5-3 from the spot.
The result was a disappointment for South Africa as Panama was the lowest ranked of the quarterfinalists - 98 in the Fifa rankings as opposed to South Africa's 39th.
Also, South Africa had scored a good win over world number-six Mexico earlier in the event, followed by a 3-3 draw against Jamaica and a 1-1 draw against Guatemala.
Denied at the last instant
Early on it looked as if South Africa's firepower up front would pry open
Panama's defence, but they stood firm, although Lungisani Ndlela was denied at the last instant by defender Felipe Balov, who kept out the striker's shot in the tenth minute.
The Panamanians weathered the early storm and slowly began to impose themselves on the game, threatening from time to time to expose the South African backline.
They did just that two minutes into the second half when captain Jorge Luis Dely Valdes latched onto a through ball from Luis Tejada, rounded goalkeeper Calvin Marlin and slotted the easy shot to put his team ahead.
The equaliser
In the sixty-third minute Ndlela leveled for Bafana Bafana, managing to get by Panamanian netminder Jaime Penedo to tap home the equaliser.
South Africa continued to do most of the pressing, but Penedo was solid in the Panamanian goal.
Extra time failed to produce another goal, sending the contest into a penalty shootout.
Shootout
For Panama, Luis Tejada, Angel Luis Rodriguez, Felipe Baloy, Alberto Blanco and Gabriel Gomez all converted their spot kicks, while South African skipper Ricardo Katza's shot was kept out by Penedo, which proved to be the difference between the two teams.
The Mexico versus Colombia and South Africa versus Panama double-header attracted a huge crowd of 60 050 fans to the Reliant Stadium in Houston. It was the second largest soccer crowd in the history of the city, bettered only by a Mexico versus the United States match in 2003, which drew 70 000.
The Panamanians booked a semifinal showdown against Colombia, who upset Mexico 2-1 to book their final four berth. In the other semifinal, the USA - the only remaining previous winner of the competition - will take on Honduras.
Encouragement
While coach Stuart Baxter will be disappointed with the quarterfinal loss, he will be encouraged by the showing of his
players.
Preparations for the competition were very unsettled as player after player pulled out, including most of the big-name stars plying their trade overseas.
The top three finishers in the PSL - Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns - also made their players unavailable because of club commitments, while Ajax Cape Town were busy in the African Champions League.
Despite the poor preparations and the inexperience of his line-up, Baxter's charges showed they could compete at the top level. It demonstrated that South Africa has the necessary depth to excel in the world game - and showed Baxter that he has more options than he might have thought he had.
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