Posted in News on Aug 12, 2009.
illness that prevented him from arriving back from his holiday in
Brazil until Tuesday, he would have had a relapse at
Atteridgeville's Super Stadium after watching Serbia carve up
Bafana 3-1 in a friendly international played on Wednesday night.
It equalled Bafana's worst defeat on home soil since the 3-1
loss in Cape Town to Zambia in 2007.
The match signalled Bafana's start on the road to preparing for
the 2010 World Cup finals next June and showed that Santana and his
team have a long, hard and bumpy road ahead.
An injury time goal from Katlego Mphela made the score a little
more respectable.
Star of the show was Serbia's new Manchester United winger Zoran
Tosic who came on at the start of the second half and tore the
flimsy Bafana defence to shreds, netting two goals -- his first
for his country -- in the process.
For Santana this is a rude wake up call after the national team
did well in the Confederations Cup in June and finished a
creditable fourth.
But the hard running, no nonsense Serbians, after a shaky start,
pulled the home side defenders to pieces in the second half.
Bafana held their own against the 14th world ranked Serbians in
an entertaining first 45 minutes. But lack of conditioning saw them
slump to their worst defeat at home in 17 years.
The crowd which grew to over 10 000 came to life in the second
minute when a Mphela thunderbolt was fisted onto the crossbar by
Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic. Mphela crashed his 30 metre
free kick goalwards and it took a save from the Sporting Lisbon
keeper and the woodwork to deny Bafana a sensational start to this
friendly.
Mphela scored one of the best goals of the Confederations Cup in
June when he netted with a similar free kick to score a stunning
last minute equaliser in the third place playoff against European
champions Spain. Bafana lost to Spain 3-2 in extra time.
Mphela started to throw himself about against Serbia and showed
that his late show in the Confederations Cup was no fluke and that
his confidence is high.
Bafana's star midfield performer Steven Pienaar had a shot in
the sixth minute deflected onto the side netting as the home side
pushed the Serbs.
But there was a lull in the middle of the half where neither
side took the initiative. Pienaar lost a close race with Stojkovic
in the 41st minute which the Serbian keeper won.
Bafana keeper Itumeleng Khune did well to cut out a dangerous
cross from Milos Krasic in the 43rd minute as the visitors started
to get into gear.
Teko Modise, who had an ordinary first half, almost broke the
deadlock on the stoke of halftime when his curling shot skimmed
past the upright.
The tackle of the match went to Bafana's hard working midfield
anchorman Macbeth Sibaya in injury time when he denied Milan
Jovanovic a shot on goal from close range with a red blooded
challenge that had the crowd off their feet cheering a brilliant
clearance from the Rubin Kazan star.
The Russian based Sibaya took over the captain's armband when
Bafana coach Joel Santana made three changes at the start of the
second half.
Santana brought off skipper Aaron Mokoena of
Portsmouth and Everton's Pienaar and Khune.
On came Bongani Khumalo for Mokoena, Rowen Fernandez for Khune
and striker Katlego Mashego for Pienaar.
Serbia should have had a penalty in the 54th minute when their
substitute Zoran Tosic was brought down by Bafana defender Tshepo
Masilela inside his penalty area but referee Jean Claude Labrosse
of Seychelles waved play on.
But Tosic, who joined Manchester United in the off-season, had
the final say when he latched onto a clever through ball, outpaced
defender Matthew Booth and beat Fernandez with a well taken shot
that flew into the far corner to make it 1-0.
Bafana tried hard to get back into the game and it took another
superb save by Stojkovic to prevent Modise equalising in the 61st
minute.
But Serbia's experience and bad Bafana defence saw another
substitute Danko Lazovic give Fernandez no chance with a stunning
half volley from a cross from Ivan Obradovic that made it 2-0 in
the 67th minute.
Stojkovic did well to palm away another stinging 35 meter rocket
from in-form Mphela in the 70th minute.
Mphela netted a face saving goal deep into injury time. But the
alarm bells are ringing and hopefully Santana can hear then as loud
as the fans did.
