There were heavy expectations for Bafana Bafana at this Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), and crashing out in the Round of 16 was simply not good enough.
There had never been a better time to take on Cameroon, yet Bafana failed when it mattered most as they lost 2-1 to the five-time Afcon champions at the Agdal Medina Stadium, in Rabat, on Sunday.
Bafana had more shots on goal – 15 to Cameroon’s nine – and had 64% of the ball.
However, of those 15 shots at goal, only two were on target for Bafana. Interestingly, Cameroon had just three shots on target, and two of those were goals.
Bafana’s Defensive Lapses and Challenges in Afcon Group B Matches
Coming into this match, I thought the best indicator of how Bafana played against the bigger teams was their 1-0 defeat to Egypt. In fact, it remained a fair gauge of how they would set up at the back.
Again, though, sloppy defensive errors proved costly for Bafana, and that was especially true with the first goal they conceded against Cameroon.
It’s those sorts of mistakes that Bafana supporters would have hoped that coach Hugo Broos had finally fixed. Yet, the same kind of defensive lapses keep happening.
That was also true against Zimbabwe in Bafana’s final Afcon Group B match, in which they edged their neighbours 3-2.
It’s also worth noting that while Bafana’s record at this year’s Afcon will reflect four games played, two won and two lost, they failed to keep a clean sheet in every outing.
That’s a definite cause for concern, especially when they played lower-ranked opposition like Angola and Zimbabwe.
Ultimately, Bafana are definitely competitive against the bigger teams – but if they want to make it out of the group stages at the Fifa World Cup later this year, they have to be more than competitive.
@Michael_Sherman
Sport
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