South Africa legend Benni McCarthy has hailed the influence of Ghana winger Andre Ayew for his role in helping the Black Stars defeat Bafana Bafana 2-1 in their final group match at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
The former Bafana captain watched Ghana come back to beat his home nation in the last Group C game at the ongoing tournament in Equatorial Guinea.
Ayew set up John Boye for the equalizer after the South African had taken the lead in the match before the Marseille playmaker struck late in the game to secure the win for the Black Stars.
McCarthy is impressed over the impact of the Ayew in Ghana's progress at the Africa Cup of Nati0ns.
"The confidence he had to go in to score the goal was just amazing, because the goalkeeper could have smashed him," McCarthy said on Supersport.
In the 84th minute and with the game tied at 1-1, the Marseille man raced behind Bafana's defenders to meet a flighted ball from Baba Rahman on the left.
As Benni noted, Ayew could have easily wounded himself in the effort.
"Seriously I don't think any of the South African players could have gone in for that header. Kudos to Ayew and congrats to Ghana, they were brave and they took their chances," the former UEFA Champions League winning striker added.
As South Africa's all-time top scorer, McCarthy put himself on the line many times for Bafana and his appreciation of the Ghana team drive was absolute.
"For 20 minutes Ghana were dominant and I was here with my hands on my head, I was wondering if we were going to survive and in the end we couldn't just pull it off. Congratulations to Ghana, they were superior and deserved the victory," McCarthy observed.
BAFANA COACHING
It was second time in as many games that the Ghana team had left it late, and the gutsy show earned them a Group C top spot. But for Bafana, it is an early ticket back home.
Benni fumed: "I think lack of coaching is the problem, our players need to be told this, anybody can score goals but if you don't do it everyday in training, its a problem. It's about doing things extra when normal team training is over."
"You don't see it in games because they don't do it in training, they have to practise scoring goals in training, otherwise they can't do it in games," he added.
Ayew's goal secured a fifth straight Afcon quarter-final berth for the Black Stars and made sure Ghana recorded a first ever win against Bafana in the competition.