By Michael Madyira
Bafana Bafana Cosafa Cup coach Helman Mkhalele has defended his team’s 1-1 draw in a Group A match against Mozambique on Wednesday.
After taking a first-half lead through captain and Man of the Match Rushwin Dortley, South Africa lost their lead, allowing the Mambas to hit back through Chamito Alfandega.
It was a game Bafana started well, and they threatened to cruise past their opponents but lost steam halfway through.
The excited Mkhalele refuses to blame his men for dropping two points on an evening when they appeared favourites to collect maximum points.
“I’m excited because of the performance even though it wasn’t consistent, especially looking at where we are coming from,” Mkhalele told Safa media.
“The team had their first training session on Sunday after coming from the off-season break.”
He said he was excited about the attitude and commitment of the players.
“In terms of the results, I’m a little bit disappointed because we gave away the lead, which wasn’t necessary,” he said.
The 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winner explained where he feels Bafana blew it.
“But the good thing is we know where we went wrong while defending our lead,” he said.
“We started to open up and gave them more space, especially after they brought in fresh legs. Those are the things we will be working on for our next game.”
Mozambique coach Victor Matine said everything went according to plan.
“I’m happy because the players tried to do what we trained for. We told them to have confidence in this game and to respect South Africa,” said Matine.
“But you must be competitive, and we did it in the second half.”
Bafana is preparing to face Botswana on Saturday as they push for their first set of maximum points in this group.
On the same day, Mozambique will come up against Eswatini.
Pictured above: Bafana Bafana midfielder Devin Titus against Mozambique defender Ze Pedro
Source: Cosafa
