Photo Credit - Bafana Bafana - South Africa.
Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki has admitted to being disappointed following the team’s 1-1 draw against Egypt in the first round of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier played at Free State Stadium on Sunday.
The Egyptians had stunned the home crowd when Mohamed Hassan Hashem Abdelaal scored a beautiful goal in the 66th minute to take the lead in this tight contest. However, Jamie Webber found the back of the net for South Africa in the 80th minute to ensure a share of the spoils.
Former Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs coach Ntseki took charge of the side for this fixture and saw his mixed bag of fringe club players struggle to find any form of rhythm in the first half.
Speaking afterwards, Ntseki said though he was happy with the performance of his players, the outcome of the game is not what he wanted.
“The boys did very well in terms of performance, but the final result was not that pleasing knowing very well that we still have to go to Egypt in the second leg,” said Nteski. “We saw how they conducted themselves, especially after scoring, when they were playing for time. Personally, I’ve played too many games against Egypt in the junior teams and also in the senior teams.”
Egypt coach Wael Reyad said: “But we have many, many players who did not come with us because they had problems with their passports and papers, something like that. But we played with 15 or 16 players only. I told my players after the match, it was a very tough game because it was the first time for them to play for the national team.”
Bafana will return to Johannesburg on Monday where they will remain in camp until they depart to Egypt on 6 March 2025. The winner of this two-legged contest will proceed to the second round of the CHAN qualifiers to be played in May 2025.
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