By: Staff Reporter
Bafana Bafana left it late against Ghana’s Black Stars, with Bongokhule Hlongwane scoring the solitary goal in the 83rd minute at FNB Stadium.
The victory takes South Africa to the summit of Group G in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers with four points from two matches. The victory comes a few days after Hugo Broos’ side was held to a 0-0 draw by Zimbabwe.
It was not an event full first half with both sides not testing the keepers. It took Bafana Bafana at least 31 minutes to really trouble the Ghanain keeper with a free-kick that he pushed forward, but the rebound was skyrocketed.
Bafana should have gone one up within the first minute of the second half, but Evidence Makgopa somehow managed to put the ball wide after the keeper had fumbled and allowed the ball to trickle in between his legs. Makgopa somehow managed to kick the ball with both his legs, which saw it wobbling to the right.
Following the victory, Broos said he was proud and happy with what he had seen.
“We have made big progress in one week. When I saw my team play against Zimbabwe, there was no determination or belief in themselves, but I saw a team with confidence today. We played a good game, there was determination, the will to win, and discipline. That is what I like. We have four (points) from six, and I said before that if we have that from these two games, I will be very happy. We will see if we can go on like this and make progress like we did this week, and then see where we will end up at the end of the race,” he said.
Ghana coach Charles Kwabla Akonnor said he anticipated a victory, but felt his players were not clinical upfront. The team came into the match riding high following a 1-0 win against Ethiopia on Friday.
“We started well in the first half. It went the way we wanted, but we were not clinical upfront, and that was the problem. But I was satisfied with the way we played in terms of controlling the game. In the second half, we somehow lost the game in the midfield with how we wanted to play. We believed we could win this match. We did one or two substitutions which went the other way around, and somehow, we kept dropping, and it affected our game,” he said.
