Confederations Cup
Bafana stroll past Mauritius
2009-05-30 18:52
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Bafana keeper hardly tested (Gallo)
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Germiston - It was as easy as a walk in the park as Bafana Bafana strolled past an outclassed Mauritius 2-0 in their friendly training match played at the Germiston Stadium on Saturday.
Although Bafana were never troubled by their mediocre opponents, Bafana again lacked killer instinct and should have buried Mauritius under an avalanche of goals. This lack of killer instinct must be a major concern to national head coach Joel Santana just two weeks before Bafana meet Iraq in the opening Confederations Cup group A match at Ellis Park on June 14.
Santana and his players get another chance to rectify matters when they play Poland at the new-look Orlando Stadium in their final warm-up game next Saturday.
Santana will have all his overseas based players by Tuesday and will be able to field a full side against Poland in what will be Santana's last chance to work out his best combination for Iraq.
No caps were awarded for this match which was a training match to help Bafana and Santana prepare for the Confederations Cup.
The score was not important, but the fact Bafana missed so many chances and failed to punish their opponents ranked 171 in the Fifa rankings underlined Bafana's lack of punch and experience in attack.
Bafana's three opponents in the Confederations Cup, Spain the best team in the world at present, Iraq and even the New Zealand part-timers are light years better than this weak Mauritius side that did their best, but were totally outplayed.
As a training exercise this practice match served its purpose, but it was never going to be a competitive match. The Indian Ocean islanders were not expected to put up much resistance. This was all about building much needed confidence for Bafana ahead of the Confederations Cup in two weeks.
Poor Bafana goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune did not even have a back pass to deal with in a completely one sided first half in which Bafana created and wasted countless chances. It was simply too easy.
So bad were the Mauritius strikers that Khune was given some extra practice during the halftime break by goalkeeping coach Alex Revoredo. Santana failed to give any of his other three keepers a chance and kept Khune on for the entire match.
The game started off brightly when Benson Mhlongo blasted home the opening goal in the sixth minute when he latched onto a clever through ball from Katlego Mphela and cleverly chipped keeper Ivan Jose.
Jose was in the thick of the action, stopping goal-bound shots from Teko Modise and Mphela in the 17th and 19th minutes respectively.
Jose did well again in the 31st minute when he managed to fist Aaron Mokoena's header for a corner after the Bafana skipper connected a well aimed Modise corner.
Modise shaved the woodwork on 40 minutes after he was set up with a clever training ground free kick taken by livewire right back Siboniso Gaxa.
Modise, who dominated the midfield, crashed a 20 metre free kick against the Mauritius crossbar two minutes from the break and a minute later Katlego Mashego watched in frustration as his effort on goal was deflected for a corner.
Mauritius continued to pack their defence after the break. But the visitors did test Khune when Jean Reck forced Khune to palm his 53rd minute shot for a corner.
But a wonder goal from Lance Davids in the 67th minute had the crowd of 3 000 on their feet. Davids unleashed a 35 metre rocket that rattled the net giving Jose no chance. After that the match fizzled out.
Santana was able to give most of his players a run except for Belgium based midfielder Masilo Modubi and the other three keepers.