With goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs tested by little more than back passes from his defenders, South Africa strolled into the Cosafa Cup semifinals with a 2-0 win over Mauritius at a sleepy Somhlolo Stadium in Swaziland on Sunday afternoon.
However, it took the youthful Bafana Bafana combination 42 minutes to assert themselves with a penalty goal from Supersport United’s Teko Modise — with the spot kick accompanied by a slice of good fortune after what appeared an accidental handball.
Modise’s second goal in the 64th minute was a good deal more impressive, with a sweetly timed half-volley thundering into the roof of the net.
In all, Bafana had 22 largely aimless scoring attempts compared with the modest two by Mauritius, while dominating possession by a wide margin.
The crowd was kept down to a couple of thousand by the host nation’s unexpected defeat in Saturday’s first-round game against Mauritius. The Swazis vented their disappointment by staying at home — and considering they missed precious little, it was a wise decision.
”This was for the future,” said Bafana coach Carlos Albert Parreira about what was essentially a B-team. ”We gave 18 promising players exposure at international level and learnt a lot about their potential at the same time.”
For the present, however, only the enterprising Papi Zothwane in midfield, Bevan Fransman as a central defender and possibly Modise enhanced their prospects of an imminent call-up for what could be termed Bafana’s A-team.
Josephs, of course, performed flawlessly, but it is difficult making a mistake when one has nothing to do.
Mauritius, for their part, fielded a mixed bag of very young players — five of them 20 and under — and some rather long in the tooth. They performed with a good deal of resolution and grit to contain Bafana for almost the entire first half, with only the surprise penalty breaking the deadlock.
With Mauritius playing relatively more adventurously in the second period on the bone-hard pitch, Bafana came closer to scoring on more occasions — with a deceptive long-range shot from full-back James Madidilane ricocheting off the crossbar in the 75th minute.
In order to join holders Zambia and Mozambique, who had previously qualified for the Cosafa semifinals, Bafana first beat Malawi in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out on Saturday after a goalless 90 minutes. — Sapa