Bafana win in Windhoek
Brad Morgan
17 August 2006
Bafana Bafana beat Namibia one-nil in a friendly football international at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek on Wednesday.
It wasn't a convincing performance but, after a run of poor results which has seen South Africa drop to 76th in the world rankings, a win, no matter how it is achieved, is a step in the right direction.
And to be fair to the players, the pitch was not in good shape and the ball bobbled about a bit, which led to a scrappy affair.
Difficult pitch
Just how difficult the pitch was became clear in the twentieth minute when Surprise Moriri headed down a dangerous free kick from Dillon Sheppard towards the goal, only to see the ball bounce over the crossbar!
After that let-off, Namibia hit back with a decent long-range strike from Heinrich Isaaks that passed just wide of goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez's upright.
With the pitch not helping the flow of the game, the contest became
largely confined to the middle of the park, with both teams often squandering possession.
Missed opportunity
Benson Mhlongo, Bafana's new captain on the night, had an opportunity to make his mark in the thirty-seventh minute, but failed to take advantage of a Sheppard corner with his header.
At half-time the teams headed for the locker rooms level at nil-nil.
Namibia started off the better of the two teams in the second half and could have taken the lead when Isaaks didn't find the target after a nice build-up just before the hour mark.
New boy scores
Two minutes later, the home side was made to pay as Bafana Bafana new boy Katlego Mashego took advantage of a mix-up between the Namibian defenders and the goalkeeper Athiel Mbaha to net for South Africa.
The Brave Warriors came back at the South Africans, searching for an equaliser, and on two occasions SA goalkeeper Fernandez needed to
execute excellent saves to keep them at bay.
Near the end of regulation time, Siyabonga Nkosi had a great chance to seal victory for Bafana Bafana, but Namibian net-minder Mbaha was equal to the task.
The referee added six minutes of extra time to the normal 90 minutes and the home side won themselves one more opportunity to salvage a draw when they were awarded a free-kick only a metre outside South Africa's penalty area. But they again failed to pierce Fernandez's defences and SA held on for victory.
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