Mkhalele happy despite Bafana shooting blanks in another draw

Showing more grit and determination is something Bafana Bafana coach Helman Mkhalele will be demanding after his side's 0-0 draw against Botswana in the 2024 Cosafa Cup on Saturday.

Played at a boisterous Wolfson Stadium in Kwazakhele, Gqeberha, both the hosts and their visitors failed to find the back of the net despite having several clear-cut chances at either end of the field.

It was the first time Bafana had failed to score in this year's edition, while Botswana are yet to open their account having played to two goalless draws in their opening two rounds of Group A clashes.

Despite scoring in their opening match against Mozambique, Bafana, like the rest of the teams in their group who are on two points from as many matches, are yet to register a win with only one round of matches left in the round-robin stage of the tournament.

South Africa meet Eswatini in their final Group A game at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Tuesday (3pm).

Mkhalele — the assistant to Bafana head coach Hugo Broos, who is in charge of the third-string side being fielded at this tournament — said Saturday's result was frustrating because his side did not have enough control of the game in key areas of the park.

“We started very sloppily, we did not have command of the ball, especially when entering the final third,” he said.

“It looked as if we lacked a bit of confidence and did not give enough support and read the game to support [Thabang] Sibanyoni, who was dominating [the opposition defence].

“We also lacked speed and penetration through the middle which let us down a bit [in the end.”

Mkhalele made just one change to his side after the clash against Mozambique, Liam Bern coming in place of Brooklyn Poggenpoel, which he said was to try to add stability to the middle of the park.

“Looking at the first game, we struggled in the middle and for the equaliser scored by Mozambique, we were late [in closing down the ball] and lacked control of the central midfield.

“So I feel that bringing someone who can bring stability — because that was the area where our opponents had more entries — was important for us to stabilise in the middle while still allowing us to go forward.”

The former Bafana winger said despite their apparent shortcomings, the team showed a lot of character in continuing to keep pushing for an opening goal.

“You could see some of them were struggling in terms of match conditioning, but they kept pushing forward.

“We did have entries into their final third, but we never had enough control or consistency in that regard.

“However, in terms of character and application, I was very happy.”

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