Bafana Finally Find Form

�crit par Danielle NJOCK

18-06-2009

Bernard Parker of South Africa celebrates with team mate, Tsepo Masilela

“Today we played a beautiful game” said South African coach Joel Santana after defeating New Zealand 2-0 in their second 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup group match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on Wednesday night.

Bafana Bafana outplayed and outclassed a weak Kiwi side on the night. It was a superb overall display by Santana’s men as their flair and skill going forward was equally matched by determination and commitment in defense.

They could even have won by two or three goals more as they squandered numerous chances in front of goal, something they can not afford to do against Spain in their next match.

Benard Parker proved the hero on the night scoring a brace for his country, showing his superb finishing skills in front of goal. The Bafana striker has gone from villain to hero in the space of three days following his bizarre incident in the Iraq game where he unwittingly prevented his team from winning.

“I felt terrible after what happened, but I put it behind me when the coach announced my name in the starting line-up. Just knowing that the coach believes in me gave me confidence to play” said Parker.

And play he certainly did, scoring in the 21st and 52nd minute to win the match for South Africa. In fact the whole Bafana side played well together. The biggest difference was certainly the inclusion of Steven Pienaar in the team. His play-making ability was second to none as he provided the link between defense and attack. Tsepo Masilela also had a good game down the left flank from where he created both goals.

New Zealand, on the other hand, were very average and hardly had a touch of the ball in the first half. Their second half wasn’t much better as they were dominated in the midfield by Macbeth Sibaya and Kagisho Dikgacoi who fought valiantly for every ball.

The All Whites coach, Ricki Herbert, was visibly upset with his side’s performance, “I’m very disappointed in my team after their performance. A lot of our quality players didn’t step-up and we are still to gain that illusive first point in Confederation Cup tournaments.”

The loss spells the end of the road for the Kiwis in the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup. Still the coach is adamant that they learned from this experience and assured the South African public that he would play their best team against Iraq, “We are determined to get something out of the Iraq game. We will make some changes, but it will be changes for the better.”

The win for South Africa means that they move one step closer to the semifinals, but nothing is certain as of yet and Santana is well aware of that, “Mathematically we are not certain of qualification for the semifinals but we are happy with our performance tonight. We played well and we are not afraid of Spain. We respect them but we need to get something out of that game to make certain of reaching the next stage”.

Mtnfootall.com, 18.06.09

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