SISA MAJOLA
JOHANNESBURG - Even though South Africa were condemned to their fifth successive defeat by Germany, coach Joel Santana said he got exactly what he wanted from the fixture.
Bafana Bafana lost 2-0 to Die Mannschaft in Leverkusen on Saturday evening through goals in each half from strikers Mario Gomez and Turkish-born Mesut Ozil.
As has been the case since the Confederations Cup in June, Bafana once again played boldly and kept great possession throughout the encounter but ended up with little to show from it.
Two weaknesses remain in defence where captain Aaron Mokoena’s back four are still error prone and static at times.
The other is the team’s inability of finding the back of the net.
Santana started the match with two strikers in Bernard Parker and Katlego Mphela, but will mostly be impressed by the showing of two local Premiership forwards, Mabhuti Khenyeza and Richard Henyekane, whom he introduced in the latter stages of the match.
Both Khenyeza and Henyekane could have solved the team’s scoring woes in the last 10 minutes of the game only to see their efforts well stopped by keeper Rene Adler.
“It was a very good match for us,” said Santana after the game.
“The South African team were facing a strong team, ranked in the world’s top four.
“The game gave us exactly what we wanted and that is international experience. We gave a good account of ourselves and I am happy with the performance.”
Now, Bafana’s next focus is against a gritty Republic of Ireland team at Thomond Park in Limerick on Wednesday.
“The Boys in Green” are ranked 37th in the world by Fifa and come off a 2-1 win over Cyprus in their World Cup qualifier match on the weekend, a result which enhanced their chances of coming to South Africa for the big event next year.
But Santana and his technical team should be pondering some questions ahead of the clash.
Will defender Bevan Fransman be the preferred choice again in central midfield, or will the coach opt to test the Ajax Cape Town duo of Lance Davids and Clifford Ngobeni in their natural positions?
Another one of his three players in the middle of the park, Benson Mhlongo, might be good defensively, but what value does he add to the team when they surge forward on counter-attack?
He plays far too deep and often further back than he normally does when he turns out domestically for Orlando Pirates.
Santana’s charges might want to press for a result against Eire, who aside from stars, striker Robbie Keane, midfielder Damian Duff and goalkeeper Shay Given, are honest grafters who will make Bafana work hard for a win.
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