South Africa always seem to reserve their best performance
in friendly matches, last night beating European and World champions, Spain for the first time in four
meetings. The game may have given them plenty of confidence for future matches but
they need to maintain consistency, start winning when it matters the most and
regularly keep up tonight’s performance in future matches to make headway in
the African Cup of Nations in 2014. While there has been lots of motivation
from Gordon Igesund in their tactical planning, not much has changed from the
way South Africa has played since the 2010 World Cup. The players are full of
enthusiasm and it was pleasing to note a very big improvement in their work
rate. They weren’t holding onto the ball like they have done in the past.
With Dean Furman playing a prominent role in the mid field, South
Africa needs two other strong midfield players to supplement his brilliance.
What Bafana Bafana are failing to do, is to control the tempo of the match, every
time they won possession of the ball they continued to play “hurried” football
instead of maintaining the composure shown by the Spanish team and it was this composure
that won the Spanish team the European Cup in 2009 followed by the world cup in
2010.
Although Spain lost the match, they performed brilliantly in
terms of ball possession, running of the ball and players running for each
other. This is something that South Africa need to seriously step up if they
wish to present any challenge in the forthcoming African Cup before they can
make a very determined effort to ever get back onto the world stage.
Substitute Siphiwe Tshabalala still continues to play for “Siphiwe
Tshabalala” and not for Bafana Bafana and this was noticeable because he was
practically the only South African player to hang onto the ball for longer
periods than he should. Bernard Parker who scored his 19th international
goal must be complemented for his goal prowess because it was a very clever ball;
his timing was immaculate in connecting the final touch that won Bafana Bafana
the match.
While this match should be a motivator for future South African
fixtures, they definitely need to improve their tactical inter-passing, goal
scoring opportunities and a more supporting midfield for Furman.
South Africa:
Itumeleng Khune, Thabo Matlaba, Anele Ngcongca, Thabo Nthethe, Bongani Khumalo, Dean Furman, Andile Jali, Oupa Manyisa, Bernard Parker, Daylon Claasen, Tokelo Rantie
Spain:
Iker Casillas, Alvaro Arbeloa, Raul Albiol, Sergio Ramos, Nacho Monreal, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Andres Iniesta, Pedro, Fernando Llorente, David Villa
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