Brad Morgan
25 October 2007
South Africa edged Zambia 4-3 on penalties in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening, after the teams played to a goalless draw, to claim the Cosafa Castle Cup title and reverse a run of disappointing results.
Bafana Bafana, since late August have been through a disappointing patch of form, which has seen SA drop 10 places in Fifa's latest world rankings to 83rd place.
A 1-0 loss to Scotland in Aberdeen was followed by a poor 3-1 setback against Zambia in South Africa's final African Cup of Nations qualifier in Cape Town. After that, the team drew goalless against Uruguay before edging Botswana 1-0. Then, an experimental Italian side downed Bafana 2-0 in Siena in a friendly.
Struck the woodwork
In Bloemfontein, playing with a squad of home-based players against a Zambian side minus any players based outside of Africa, Carlos Alberto Parreira's charges had the better of the clash, twice striking the woodwork.
However, the failure to score a goal again underlined the weakness of the national team.
South Africa started the game the stronger of the two sides, controlling the midfield, and with only five minutes played Chipolopolo goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene was called on to save from Bamuza Sono, who was unmarked inside the penalty box.
Sono struck a powerful shot 10 minutes later, but this time Mweene, who plays for PSL club Free State Stars, didn't need to make a stop as midfielder's shot flew wide of goal.
Goalless
Mweene was beaten when Teko Modise got the better of the goalie with a free kick, but his effort found the woodwork and the score remained goalless at the break.
After the re-start, it was again Bafana Bafana applying the pressure and striker "Terror" Fanteni nearly broke the deadlock. Like Modise, he beat the goalkeeper, but the woodwork saved the Zambians once more.
Sono and Modise fired decent efforts on goal, but both were slightly too high and passed over the crossbar.
While the Zambians had shown some attacking spark in the second half of the opening stanza, they offered little in the second 45 minutes as SA goalkeeper Moneeb Josephs was reduced to a spectator, but it nearly went wrong for him and the hosts as regulation time ran out.
A misunderstanding between Josephs and Bevan Fransman gifted the ball to Moroka Swallows' striker James Chamanga. Josephs, though, recovered quickly, grabbing the ball from the feet of the Chipolopolo forward to prevent a stunning late setback.
Penalty shootout
The match moved into a penalty shootout and Josephs kept out Zambia's first attempt when he saved Rainford Kalamba's effort. Mweene responded by denying Brett Evans.
The Zambians suffered a second miss when Chamanga couldn't find the target and, after Fanteni, Fransman, and Siphiwe Tshabalala had all netted, it was left up to Modise to seal the victory for South Africa. He was up to the task and beat Mweene to secure the silverware for South Africa.
Bafana Bafana's fans showed relief and joy at the victory, storming the field after Modise slotted his spot kick, to mob the players.
It was SA's second victory in the 10-year history of the Cosafa Castle Cup and it prevented Zambia recording a record fourth title in the competition.
The win also meant the trophy will remain in South African hands as Wednesday’s final was the last match to be played in the history of the Cosafa Castle Cup.
A boost
More importantly, given the wave of successes achieved by South Africa in other sports recently – the Rugby World Cup win by the Springboks, surfer Jordy Smith's third win in the World Qualifying Series at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, 16 victories by South African swimmers at the Durban World Cup, and Ernie Els' record seventh win in the World Match Play Championships – it was
a much-needed boost for the country's footballers.
After the recent struggles of his first-choice selection, coach Parreira will surely be taking a look at the merits of some of the players from his home-based side which took its winning streak to four on the trot after earlier victories in the competition over Malawi, Mauritius, and Botswana.
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