OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 4.00pm.
Trott Moloto has decided to change tack and allow Bafana Bafana to play a zonal defense when they come up against Lesotho’s Likoena at the Setsoto Stadium on Sunday in their 2002 World Cup qualifier clash reports the Sowetan.
Moloto made himself unpopular with soccer fans when he decided to adopt the 3-5-2 formation. Even Nigeria, who vanquished Bafana Bafana in the Africa Cup of Nations semifinal, vocally disagreed with Moloto’s strategy.
While most experts weren’t critical of the system itself, they did disagree with the way Moloto used the sweeper system to play three at the back instead of two.
Taking a leaf from Brazil’s book to play weaker sides ahead of important games to build the confidence of his strikers, Moloto’s 4-4-2 formation against a Jomo Cosmos juniors side at Marks Park on Thursday resulted in a 1-1 draw.
“We have to be more tight as we will be playing away,” admitted Moloto later.
And Bafana have been warned not to take Likoena lightly as smaller countries have been known to perform above themselves against South Africa.
* The possible starting line-up against Likoena is — Tlale, Nzama, Carnell, Schoeman, Issa, Dumi Ngobe, Thabo Mngomeni, Zwane, Shai, Bartlett and Nomvete with Buckley coming on as substitute.