Tuesday | September 7, 2021

Bafana Bafana, the South African senior national team, surprised all and sundry on Monday Sept. 6 during the World Cup qualification group match against Ghana. 

They beat The Black Stars [Ghana] 1-0 in a tight contest at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg last night.

The only goal of the international draw was scored by Bongokuhle Hlongwane in the 83rd minute, very late in the match.

The Maritzburg United youthful striker has not scored a significant goal other than that. The head coach, Hugo Broos, has gone on an experiment of rebuilding the national team with the majority of young players from the development structures. 

For now, SA’s win yesterday is one hurdle cleared out but there are many to come. There were many opportunities that could have been converted throughout the game. Even so, Broos, too, was amazed by the response of the young players going toe-to-toe with a Ghana team with well-traveled stars.

South Africa top the “Group G” with 4 points, having drawn with Zimbabwe last Friday. Ghana are second on 3 points after beating Ethiopia in the previous fixture.