Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki says the injury to striker Lyle Foster derailed his plans as his side went down to Zambia at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Sunday.
The hosts were the first to score, but conceded two late goals as the match ended 2-1 in favour of the visiting side.
Early setback for Bafana Bafana
This was after a disastrous start, where Ntseki was forced into making an early change, bringing on eventual goal-scorer Keagan Dolly in place of the Vitoria de Guimaraes player, who was stretchered off just seconds after the kick-off.
According to Ntseki, the start compromised Bafana’s rhythm for the rest of the contest.
“If you lose a player in the second minute of the game, it messes up everything. I think it was a huge setback to lose Lyle in the beginning of the game and the plan was not to make substitutions as early as we did,” Ntseki said after the match. “That did not give us the rhythm that we were looking for. We kept on giving the ball away. In the first half, we played like a team with no confidence and that’s what really killed the momentum in the team. We gave away too many corner kicks early in the game.”
Molefi Ntseki, Bafana Bafana coach
Afcon qualifiers on the horizon
Chances fell to both sides during the first half, but neither could convert. It was in the 66th minute that the deadlock was broken, as Dolly got on the end of a perfectly-weighted pass from Percy Tau to beat the keeper and tap into an open net.
Ntseki hailed the way his charges began the second half, but lamented the manner in which they went on to lose the game – conceding twice in four minutes.
“When you concede two goals in a game like this in the second half, there are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself defensively. These are professionals. They are fully aware of those situations. We’ll go back and look at the game itself and do the analysis and when we report for camp, we will be addressing those negative issues.”
Molefi Ntseki, Bafana Bafana coach
Bafana resume competitive action on Friday 13 November, when they meet Sao Tome in an Afcon 2021 qualifier at FNB Stadium.