Mashaba admits to poor showing

Cape Town - bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba was left disappointed after seeing his side handed a 3-1 defeat to minnows Mauritania on Saturday.

A mistake by Bafana Bafana goalkeeper and captain Itumeleng, a red card to debutant Siyabonga Zulu and two further goals for Mauritania were enough for the home side to send South Africa home with no points.

This was probably Bafana Bafana’s worst showing in a long time to leave Mashaba’s side at the bottom of Group M with just one point after two matches, reports SAFA.net.

Mashaba admitted as much when the squad landed back on South African soil on Sunday. 

“I must admit we did not play well at all against Mauritania." said Mashaba.

"Furthermore the mistake by the keeper and the red card did not help matters, as well as injuries to key players towards the end of the game.

"Credit must go to the home side for the way they played but on a good day they are team that should not beat us – it is a pity we did not come to the party and it has cost us valuable three points."

"But take nothing away from them, they play as a team and are very passionate with some players with individual skill,” said a disappointed Mashaba.

“I have never seen my team played like they did, this was not a very impressive performance. Nothing went our way and even the heat did not assist. We managed to hold on after they took the lead, and were even able to equalise but could not hold on. They scored soft goals after the red card and the entire defence was in tatters as players picked up injuries.”

With four matches left in the qualifiers – two home and two away - Bafana Bafana have it all to do to keep their hopes alive in qualifying for the 2017 AFCON finals in Gabon.

Bafana Bafana take on Senegal on Tuesday, September 8 in the Nelson Mandela Challenge at the Orlando Stadium.

The match kicks off at 19:00.