South
Africa remains unbeaten against the Mountain Kingdom with five victories in six
meetings, with the other match drawn.
The
match got off to a flying start with Bafana creating several chances. Segolela
opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime following a fine pass from Kaizer
Chiefs midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala. It was an easy tap-in for the man
nicknamed Sox. That goal gave the cheering Bafana supporters something to
celebrate going into the break.
The
second half started with coach Gordon Igesund making several changes as he
continued to give more players the opportunity to impress ahead of the crucial
2014 World Cup qualifiers against Central African Republic and Ethiopia.
Bafana
continued to pressurise the hosts and their efforts were rewarded on 60 minutes
with Segolela completing his brace – 2-0 it was to Bafana and the crowd, led by
captain Itumeleng Khune in the stands were in full song.
It
could have been 3-nil seven minutes later after striker Bernard Parker latched
on to a pass from Tshabalala but his shot was cleared off the line with the
keeper well beaten.
“The
two goals were a great confidence booster for me, but credit must go to the
whole team as we worked very hard to achieve this result. We did very well in
windy conditions and this should set us up for a great travel to Cameroon,
hopefully we will repeat the same performance and even improve it slightly,”
said Segolela.
Both
countries were using this match as preparation for their upcoming Brazil 2014
FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
South
Africa faces the Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday, 8 June in Yaoundé,
Cameroon, with the second match coming the following weekend against Ethiopia
in Addis Ababa on Sunday, 16 June.
With
injuries hampering Bafana Bafana’s preparations, head coach Gordon Igesund used
a vastly different side to the one that defeated CAR 2-nil in March in Cape
Town.
Missing
from the side was captain Khune, Thuso Phala and Reneilwe Letsholonyane who
were not even on the bench for the Lesotho encounter – Thabo Nthete was handed
the captain’s armband for the match.
But
the main focus for this match was trying out different combinations in defence
where several players have had to withdraw from the squad due to injuries.
Nthete
played alongside Eric Mathoho in central defence – the first time they did so
in the national team. However the two did play together at Bloemfontein Celtic
before Mathoho made a switch to Kaizer Chiefs. Mathoho was replaced by Tefo
Mashamaite in the second half. Also coming on in the second stanza was Tebogo
Langerman at left-back in place of Ricardo Nunes, while Senzo Meyiwa made his
Bafana Bafana debut when he replaced Wayne Sandilands who started in goals.
“I
gave a couple of players a run and I was very pleased with the outcome. We had
to get to the bottom of our defensive troubles before we travel to CAR and
Ethiopia. It was important to get it right here today. What I saw gave me a
clear indication of what we need to do in our next match which is very
crucial,” said Igesund.
“Now
we know what we need to work on and I believe we will get better, more so
because Phala, May Mahlangu, Khune, Tokelo Rantie and Letsholonyane will be available
for the two matches. So it was a good exercise for us and we have taken a lot
from this match. I am happy with the result but more so with the performance. I
saw a lot that I needed to see, because without this match I would have had to
experiment in Cameroon, which is very dangerous.”
Bafana
Bafana return to South Africa on Monday morning (3 June) and will depart for
Cameroon on Tuesday afternoon (4 June).
- SAFA
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