Cape Town - Sport24 dissect the individual performances of Bafana Bafana in their opening AFCON encounter against Algeria.
As it happened: Bafana Bafana v Algeria
A frustrating night for Shakes Mashaba after Bafana Bafana let slip their unbeaten run with a 3-1 defeat to the best ranked team on the continent.
South Africa started off very slowly and tactically sucked in all the pressure coming from Algeria before finally getting their rhythm as Dean Furman almost broke the deadlock with a strike that dipped over Algerian goalkeeper, Rais Adi Mbolhi, but hit the crossbar. Minutes later Rivaldo Coetzee was forced to leave the field due to injury as Siyabonga Nhlapho replaced the 18-year-old.
The second half saw a much better start for Bafana as they took the lead within six minutes through a Thuso Phala tap-in, but Algeria crawled their way back into the game and burst through South Africa’s defence to put three past Darren Keet.
Bafana Bafana player ratings:
Darren Keet – 5
Anele Ngcongca – 5
Thabo Matlaba – 5
Thulani Hlatshwayo – 5
Rivaldo Coetzee - 5 (Was substituted in the first half due to injury.)
Dean Furman - 6
Andile Jali - 6
Oupa Manyisa – 6.5
Thuso Phala – 6
Sibusiso Vilakazi - 6.5
Tokelo Rantie - 4.5
Substitutes:
Siyabonga Nhlapho - 5
Mandla Masango - 4
Bongani Ndulula - 4