The opening 20 minutes are still an Achilles heel for Bafana Bafana.
But their recovery to claw their way back into the game remains their biggest strength ahead of this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.
On Wednesday SA broke the deadlock through defender Thulani Hlatshwayo in their friendly match against Mali after they had absorbed the pressure up until the 41st minute. Sibusiso Vilakazi and Dean Furman added two late in the second half to make the 3-0 win look easy against one of African football’s giants.
The Eagles, who dumped Bafana out of the quarterfinals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in SA, had bullied Bafana before the goal.
While they had to deal with numerous attacks as well as adjust to the baking sun here, coach Shakes Mashaba’s men were never really too exposed to concede.
There were fierce battles — especially in midfield.
However, Bafana went into the first-half break in some measure of control, partly due to Hlatshwayo’s well-headed goal. Mashaba also did not need to give a pep talk in the dressing room during the break because his men picked up the pace all on their own.
It did not start that way, though. Bafana goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane, making his second start since pushing himself into contention under Mashaba, could have been called into action much earlier in the game. However, Ahmed Doumbia and Bakary Sako failed to hit the target. Their captain, Seydou Keita, soon added his name to the mistimed attempts.
Mali had also become aware that they could expose Bafana on the left flank, where Thabo Matlaba was operating. Not that Matlaba had a shocker, but his enterprising runs forward were leaving a gaping hole at the back, giving The Eagles the width to hit SA on the counter.
And that Bafana had a handful of supporters in the stands — made up mostly of travelling journalists and members of the embassy — meant they had to dig even deeper. That they did. After all, both coach and players have said they prefer to play away from home, where they won two and drew one of their three Cup of Nations qualifiers last year.
Bongani Ndulula could have increased Bafana’s tally soon after the hour mark. Matlaba surged forward once again and delivered a perfect ball to find the onrushing striker, who hit the target but was unfortunate to see his shot cleared off the line.
Mali hit back and almost equalised through Mustapha Yatabare, whose header shaved the upright. With the sun coming out and sweat dripping from the shirts, the pace and intensity of this clash surprisingly did not drop, proving that Bafana were acclimatising to the conditions. M Mashaba will be proud of his team, having rung the changes and still got a decent performance out of them.
It also continues to be a debate who the coach chooses as his captain when Bafana kick off their campaign against Algeria on Monday in Group C. Andile Jali got his turn to wear the armband instead of his midfield partner, Furman, and showed true character as SA thumped Mali to preserve Mashaba’s record.