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Teams sing national anthems during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Qualifier match between South Africa and Benin at Moses Mabhida Stadium on November 18, 2023 in Durban, South Africa.
(Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images)
There is a general consensus that South Africa were good but not good enough against Mali. Former Bafana Bafana midfielder Benson Mhlongo has explained what was lacking to make a complete performance.
Bafana had a good first-half against Mali in the Africa Cup of Nations Group E opener, where apart from Percy Tau missing a penalty, they still created a number of chances to score but were not clinical.
However, Hugo Broos’ charges somehow disappeared in the second stanza and conceded two goals that saw them lose 2-0.
There are question marks on why Bafana could not produce a complete performance after showing so much promise in the first stanza.
READ | Hunt: What I’d do against Namibia if I was Broos
Mhlongo has suggested that South Africa were functioning on one side, hence they could not maintain their attacking dominance and singled out Thapelo Maseko as a player who did not come to the party.
“Percy (Tau) tried in the first-half, where he breaks I think three times. Our weakest link unfortunately was number 12 Maseko, I didn’t see him making even one run in between a centre-back or a full-back or dodging the line or breaking the offside,” Mhlongo said on Marawa Sports Worldwide.
“So we were functioning only one-sided, which was the right hand side and you could understand, where it was (Teboho) Mokoena playing on the right in the midfield, (Khuliso) Mudau playing on the right and Percy. Remember Sundowns the culture is the same, you had the majority of Sundowns (on the right side). That’s why they had joy.
“But (Sphephelo) Sithole, Maseko and (Aubrey) Modiba were disjointed, so we were lopsided and you can’t play the tournament attacking only on one side,” he added.
READ | Calculations and ‘if’ again for Bafana?
Maseko is not yet a regular at Sundowns, where he has managed only four starts in domestic competitions since he was signed from SuperSport United at the beginning of the season.
The 20-year-old, however, impressed in the African Football League, with six starts, where he was named Player of the Tournament and was also the Top Goal-scorer with two goals, after the Brazilians were crowned inaugural champions.
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