9 October 2020 – The South African Senior Men’s National Team Head Coach Molefi Ntseki has expressed his disappointment with certain aspects of the match against Namibia, which was played at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on Thursday, 8 October 2020.
Bafana Bafana played to a 1-1 draw against Namibia in their first international friendly in this FIFA week as they prepare for 2021 Cameroon AFCON qualifiers against Sao Tome, which are scheduled for November 2020.
Their next game is against Zambia on Sunday, 11 October 2020.
“Our first match of this difficult year (against Namibia) had some great tactical moments,” said Ntseki.
“I believe we had a good first half, with some good combination play that led to Luther Singh’s goal. There are moments where our final passes were not timed well inspite of good combinations.
Luther Singh of South Africa celebrates goal with teammates during the nternational Friendly match between South Africa and Namibia on the 08 October 2020 at Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Phokeng Pic Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
“I will admit that the fact that the players’ level of fitness hasn’t reached its peak played a role to our performance yesterday. At half-time we realized that we needed to make a few changes and take advantage of the six substitutes law allowed during international friendlies.
“We had moments where the players lost concentration which lead to Namibia almost equalizing in the first half. The lapse of concentration which lead to Namibia equalizing is one of the areas we will focus on ahead of our next match this coming Sunday, 11 October 2020,’’ said Ntseki.
The Bafana Bafana mentor said he was happy with the way the debutants performed in the match against Namibia.
“We started the match with three debutants who did well under our instructions. There were moments where we had to remind them to keep the shape, and moments where we had to direct them; however they did well and showed us some great moments.
Thibang Phete of South Africa challenged Peter Shalulile of Namibia during the nternational Friendly match between South Africa and Namibia on the 08 October 2020 at Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Phokeng Pic Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
“As of today, our attention has moved to our next match against Zambia, where players who were rested will get a run. We rested four of our senior players last night to try and work on new combinations and we saw new ideas going forward.’’
Ntseki said Friday’s training session will focus on the recovery, while still working on the tactical and technical aspects of the game going forward.
“We have a style of play that the players need to remember after so many months out of action and this will be re-emphasized during our morning video sessions,” concluded Ntseki.
Bafana Bafana meet Zambia at the same venue on Sunday in a match that has always been dubbed the COSAFA Derby.