Jaco van der Merwe

Johannesburg – Poland coach, Leo Beenhakker, has put a damper on Bafana Bafana’s celebrations after beating his team 1-0 in their friendly on Saturday.

Bafana's clinical performance against the Pole's, who are formidable opponents and ranked 29th in the latest FIFA rankings, will have given the South Africans a huge confidence boost on the eve of the Confederations Cup.

It was only Bafana's seventh win in 29 matches against a European team, but the home team’s performance was still not good enough to impress Dutch coach Beenhakker.

“Their midfield performed well and they have attacking midfielders which I like, but they will have to work on a couple of things before they can tackle the best in the world. They will have to improve their play in front of goal and in defence,” said Beenhakker.

“Against a team like Spain, against whom Bafana will play in the Confederations Cup, you get very few chances to shoot at goal. It is thus very important to seize those opportunities.”

Bafana’s striker, Terror Fanteni, scored a simple goal in the sixth minute of the match, but Bernard Parker missed a great opportunity in the second half.

“It is difficult to draw conclusions based on a performance in a warm-up match because it isn’t the real thing. The standard of play in international tournaments is higher than in these matches,” said Beenhakker.

“South Africa were more focused than us because our players go on holiday in less than a week and you could see that they were already thinking about it.”

Aaron Mokoena, Bafana’s captain, was extremely pleased with his team’s performance, saying it was "just what the doctor ordered" before his team tackles Iraq in the opening match of the Confederations Cup in Johannesburg on Sunday.

“I know we missed some opportunities, but first prize in this match was a victory. It was very important to get a win on the eve of the tournament,” added Mokoena.

“There are still several things we need to work on, but we can build on this performance. We ought to be pleased we could create opportunities against tough opponents and win the match.”

Bafana suffered a blow when midfielder Steven Pienaar had to leave the field due to an ankle injury, but his injury doesn't appear to be too serious. Midfielder Teko Modise (hamstring) and defender Tsepo Masilela (knee) – who missed the game due to injury - will, along with Pienaar start practicing again on Monday.