Bafana Bafana beat Sudan 1-0 in their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Group C qualifier on Sunday.
Thapelo Morena had the first chance on goal for Bafana but his short-range effort just went wide. In the fourth minute, France-based striker Lebo Mothiba had a chance to opening the scoring but his miss also went wide of goal.
Thulani Serero then tried his chances from outside the box but his long-range effort failed to hit the target. A chance was then created for Mothiba again but he failed to convert from close range.
With frustrating growing from the crowd, Mothiba used fancy footwork to create space for himself within the box; but he took one touch too many as he was eventually crowded out of taking a shot at the target.
In the 20th minute, there was a penalty appeal from Serero, who claimed the ball touched a Sudanese player’s arm in the box, but the referee waved it away.
Having absorbed the early pressure, they showed attacking intent through captain, Ramadan Shareif, who attempted a bicycle kick but Ronwen Williams saved comfortably.
Kamohelo Mokotjo then tried to score from outside the box but his effort is also easily saved by Ali Aboeshren as the game reached the half-hour mark with no goals.
After good footwork from Mothiba again in the 40th minute, Lebogang Phiri had a chance to score – but his effort was blocked by a defender.
Just before halftime, Dean Furman looked to get his name on the score sheet but his long-range effort went wide.
Phiri would eventually make the breakthrough on the stroke of halftime as his left-footed strike broke the deadlock for his first goal in Bafana colours.
Bafana started the second-half stronger with Morena passing in the box but it was cut out before Mothiba could reach it.
In the 66th-minute goalscorer, Phiri was stretchered off and was replaced by Lebogang Manyama.
Ntseki then went for an all-out attack, as he brought on striker Bradley Grobler and Kermit Erasmus for Mothiba and Serero, respectively.
Grobler then looked like he had doubled Bafana’s lead but his shot in the box was ruled offside. In the end, a solitary goal was all that was needed as SA claimed a 1-0 win for their first victory in Afcon qualifiers.
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Source – EWN
