09 Jul 2023

 A single strike by Thatayaone Kgamanyane was not enough to give senior national football team, the Zebras much needed win as they lost 2-1 to South Africa’s Bafana Bafana in a HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA Cup clash played at King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban, South Africa on Saturday.

Zebras coach Mpote said in an interview that despite the loss, his charges played well, adding that their plan was that in the first half they would close the pockets and let the two defenders build.

“As they build, there is no where they could play the ball to, but the only thing they could do is to play long balls. 

We also wanted to close the midfield and have one central midfielder between the central defenders so that we stretch their width, so that they are not effective crosses but vertical passes,” he said.

Mpote said the plan worked hence their opponents did not have a lot of chances behind the last line.

For his part, Bafana Bafana coach, Morena Ramoreboli said it was not an easy game as the Zebras blocked all the areas and zones where they wanted to play and that alone made it difficult for Bafana Bafana to fully execute their game plan.

“But I think there was one part of our game which I think was not really connecting well, which was our percentage in terms of our vertical passes, but after connecting those vertical passes, we started to look like we can score any minute,” he said.

“And honestly speaking, Kopelang’s red card was a turning point for us because we started to pile pressure and ended up getting the winning goal. Yes we could have scored more,” he said.

Zebras will play their third games against Namibia at Moses Mabhida Stadium tomorrow. ends