It was the result Bafana Bafana wanted, but hardly a classy and composed display as they were outplayed by Congo for much of the frantic 1-1 African Nations Cup qualifying draw at the Municipal Stadium in Pointe Noire on Sunday afternoon.
Bafana are now well positioned to qualify for next year’s African Nations Cup finals in Ghana, no matter what the outcome of their final game against Zambia, after the Zambians were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by minnows Chad in a home fixture on Sunday.
But for those viewing the intense, nerve-wracking proceedings devoid of sentiment and partisanship, the result in Pointe Noire could only be viewed as an injustice for the gallant, motivated and surprisingly skilful Congolese.
Fortunately for South Africa, the Congolese could not match their verve and enterprise in build-ups when it came to aiming shots and headers at goal — with the home team squandering 10 gilt-edged opportunities against the three enjoyed by Bafana.
For all this, it was South Africa who opened the score and stunned the jam-packed, 18 000-strong crowd with a goal against the run of play a minute after half-time that was engineered by Papi Zothwane and coolly slotted into the roof of the net by the constantly lurking Sibusiso Zuma — who promptly enacted his traditional acrobatic salute after scoring.
For a brief period Bafana settled into a composed mode and appeared as though they would contain the Congolese onslaught with tight marking and occasional counter-attacks.
However, after Jean Batsinba equalised for Congo in the 64th minute with a speculative 25m shot that Bafana goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez allowed to slip from his grasp and lope into the net, the home team dominated again.
The irony of Fernandez’s blunder was that the goalkeeper made three game-saving, point-blank saves before blotting his copybook with an embarrassing blunder.
Bafana could have had no excuses for their lacklustre performance on the artificial grass pitch, which, although a little heavy and perhaps more suited to rugby, was in impeccable condition and encouraged precise football.
And while the referee booked Bradley Carnell, Macbeth Sibaya and Zuma, he was impeccably in control and unbiased throughout and showed his professionalism in the dying minutes when a Congolese player enacted a deceptive and skilled attempt at securing a penalty.
With the entire Bafana team looking on in a state of panic, the alert official booked the Congolese player instead for feigning an infringement.
South Africa showed their defensive intentions by playing to a 4-5-1 formation with Zuma a lone striker, but newcomer Lerato Chabangu appeared out of his element and was replaced by Teko Modise for the second half.
However, it was Modise who missed South Africa’s best opportunity of regaining the lead when he shot wildly when well-placed from 10m after Zuma had split the Congo defence with a measured pass in the 70th minute. — Sapa