Posted in News on Jan 27, 2010.
It was not until Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira
brought on his cavalry in the second half that the Zimbabwean
challenge was subdued.
However, Parreira will be pleased by the way his players took
charge of the second half after a scrappy first 45 minutes.
The win ends a successful two-week camp in Durban in which
Bafana also hammered Swaziland 6-2 in a training match last
weekend. The big difference on Wednesday was that this was an official
match and caps were awarded. The players handed Parreira his
first win in four matches in charge of Bafana since he replaced
Joel Santana last November.
The former Brazilian World Cup winner is unbeaten in his four
matches in charge. The goals all came in the second half from
Siphiwe Tshabalala, Thulasizwe Mbuyane and Lucas Thwala.
It was the first time that Bafana have played at this superb new
stadium that cost R3.2 billion and will feature some of the world
top players during the June showpiece.
There was a scare 30 minutes before kick-off when the
floodlights tripped but the stadium management had the lights back
on within minutes and there was no repeat of the Orlando Stadium
fiasco during the MTN8 cup final last year when the floodlights
went off for over 40 minutes during that match.
Apart from that, the new 75 000 seater stadium built for the
2010 World Cup is magnificent. It is state of the art and will do
South Africa proud during the global soccer showpiece which kicks
off in June.
Zimbabwe had the Bafana defence under pressure without getting
any reward in the first half.
Zimbabwe almost capitalised on a sleepy Bafana defence when
Cuthbert Malatica was able to get in a free header that, luckily for
Bafana, went centimetres wide of the woodwork after only three
minutes.
Zimbabwe keeper Tapuwa Kapini pulled off a stunning save from a
30-metre Teko Modise rocket in the 11th minute that the Platinum
Stars goalkeeper did well to punch over his crossbar.
Modise, the Bafana skipper, had another shot deflected off the
post for a corner in the 34th minute. However, had the midfielder looked up he would have seen both his strikers, Katlego
Mphela and Gert Schalkwyk, lurking inside the Zimbabwe penalty area
and in a better goal scoring position.
Bafana missed another chance on the counter-attack five minutes
later when Mphela's cross failed to find the unmarked Schalkwyk.
Tshabalala showed his class in the 50th minute when he slotted
home a tremendous free kick from 25 metres that beat Kapini hands
down to put bafana 1-0 ahead and had the 35 000-strong crowd
roaring their approval.
Bafana settled down after scoring the goal and controlled the
match. Shots on target were few and far between by either side.
Thulasizwe Mbuyane was wide with his first shot in anger in the
69th minute, after replacing Gert Schalkwyk, who
scored twice against Swaziland but failed to get going against the
better organised Zimbabwe defence.
Bafana substitute Richard Henyekane wasted an easy chance in the
73rd minute when he had the goal at his mercy, but he got stage
fright, froze and then fired his shot straight into Kapini's arms.
Mbuyane showed that he could be one for Parreira's camp in
Brazil in March when he headed home an inch-perfect cross from
Siboniso Gaxa in the 74th minute to end Zimbabwe's resistance.
Franklyn Cale, another of the second half ‘cavalry', again shone
as he did against Swaziland. He impressed by his powerful runs
down the left wing and his ability to cut in and deliver accurate
crosses.
Thwala added the icing on the cake with an injury-time goal.
