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South Africa’s chances of qualifying for next year’s Fifa World Cup in Russia took a huge knock when Bafana Bafana lost 2-1 to Cape Verde on Friday night.
Bafana will need to win all their remaining games to stand a good chance of going to Russia.
It was not a classy performance from the South Africans and paid the price of below par display.
They will need to be at their best when they host the same Cape Verde in Durban on Tuesday.
Bafana went into the break trailing 2-1 after some poor display in the opening half.
After taking the lead through Tokelo Rantie in the 13th minute, they allowed the hosts to come back into the game as they failed to clear at the back.
The hosts dominated ball possession and made it count when they drew level through Nuno Rocha’s ball which deflected off defender Eric Mathoho.
Then Dean Furman was guilty of giving away a soft penalty when he tripped the same Rocha in the box.
The striker dusted himself to score from the penalty spot to give his side a deserved lead going into the break.
Bafana showed some nerves as they never settled in the game – they gave away possession easily with some erratic passes.
Then things got worse in the second when Mathoho received his marching orders after kicking an opponent.
Surprisingly, Bafana played much better when they were a man down as they took the game to the hosts searching for the equaliser.
But it was always going to be difficult to break the stubborn islanders defence as they resorted to time delaying tactics until the final whistle.
