A winning start for Parreira
Brad Morgan
26 March 2007
Given the opportunity to use his European-based stars, Carlos Alberto Parreira got off to a winning start as coach of Bafana Bafana as South Africa recorded a convincing 3-0 win over Chad in an African Nations Cup qualifier in N'Djamena on Saturday.
With Zambia and Congo drawing goalless in Brazzaville on Sunday, the win saw South Africa move to the top of their qualifying group.
Parreira acknowledged that it was important to get a win in his first game in charge, and declared himself happy with the result. Although Chad is only 135th in the FIFA world rankings, it is a team that has been moving up the standings, and playing away from home in Africa is a notoriously difficult challenge.
Tough conditions
Conditions were anything but ideal for Bafana Bafana at the national stadium in N'Djamena, with temperatures topping 42 degrees and the pitch's surface being both hard and bumpy. However, the South African
side ably coped with those obstacles as well as the Chadians.
Parreira commented afterwards that the heat was "unbelievable" and unfair on the players, adding that he would have preferred to see the match played at night. Unfortunately, the ground doesn't possess such a facility.
Parreira added that he hadn't encountered such extreme conditions, even in the Middle East, because matches there had been played late in the evenings.
More capable
From the first whistle, South Africa looked the more capable outfit, showing superior composure to their opposition and exhibiting better ball retention. Chad, on the other hand, resorted to long balls played up to their forwards, which Bafana Bafana, with central defender Nasief Morris to the fore, ably handled.
Up front, Arminia Bielefeld striker Sibusiso Zuma enjoyed a field day against the home team's defenders, causing them numerous problems with his pace and skill. He came close on a
number of occasions to opening the score, but couldn't quite find the back of the net.
That honour went to Surprise Moriri who slotted a neat header 32 minutes into the contest. He escaped his marker before meeting a free kick by Delron Buckley to give SA the lead.
From supplier to scorer
Buckley then went from supplier to goal scorer when he scored South Africa's second just before halftime. Zuma crossed from the right, all the way across the box, before finding the FC Basel player on the opposite side of the goals. Buckley's well-struck volley then comfortably beat the goalkeeper.
So, into the break the teams went, with South Africa two goals to the good, although it could easily have been double that advantage thanks to a number of good goal scoring opportunities the team had created.
Probably as a result of the boiling conditions, the pace of the match slowed in the second stanza, and more of the play took place in the
middle of the pitch. A 2-0 win would have served Bafana Bafana well, but Parreira's men weren’t finished scoring.
Reward for Zuma
With 76 minutes played, Zuma struck a deserved third goal for South Africa. Club Brugge midfielder Elrio van Heerden sent in a cross to the far post where an unmarked Zuma volleyed home past goalkeeper Mamadou Bouba.
More than just the temperature on the pitch rose shortly afterwards when a referee's assistant was struck by an object thrown by one of the crowd. This caused a hold-up in play as the match commissioner came on to the pitch to check on the well-being of the official.
As a result of the stoppage, an additional six minutes of time was added on to the regulation 90 minutes. South Africa came close to increasing their lead through Van Heerden, but his shot flew high over the crossbar, and when the final whistle blew Bafana Bafana had secured a useful 3-0 victory.
Parreira's
assessment
Assessing his team's performance, coach Parreira said they won the match with their effort in the first half. The standard of play fell off in the second half, he said, and that is when the players should have turned more towards a possession type of game.
Nonetheless, he said he was happy with the win. "We achieved what we were looking for," he said.
Central defenders Aaron Mokoena and Nasief Morris stood out for Bafana Bafana, keeping the Chad forwards in check, while Sibusiso Zuma was the standout performer on attack, and probably South Africa's best player on the day.
Bolivia
Coach Parreira will get a second opportunity to take a good look at his side when they face up to Bolivia on Wednesday night at Ellis Park. The contest starts at 20:30.
He'll have the same squad available as the one that did duty in Chad, while Orlando Pirates' defender Innocent Mdlele has been added to the mix.
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