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Pitso Mosimane faces tough task against Sierre Loene

Back to the drawing board for Pitso

Posted: 2010-09-06 19:37

It’s back to the drawing board for Pitso Mosimane as he looks ahead to Bafana Bafana’s second African Nations Cup qualifier against Sierra Leone on October 8.

The South Africans started with a comfortable 2-0 victory against Niger in their opening match, but face an entirely different test against the Leone Stars.

The west Africans have only qualified for the tournament twice in their history; the last time being when South Africa hosted it 1996. There the Leone Stars went out in the first round. They beat Burkina Faso 2-1, but then lost to both Zambia (4-0) and Algeria (2-0).

Mohamed Kallon, Sierra Leone’s greatest player ever, was in that squad, but he was only 16 years old at the time. Fallon netted both his country’s two goals against Burkina Faso in that year’s tournament.

But all that is history now and Mosimane will be more interested in the past weekend’s result, where the Group 7 minnows caused the shock of the opening round by bravely holding seven-times Africa champions Egypt to a 1-1 draw in Cairo.

“I didn’t expect the players to put up this terrific performance against Egypt,” coach Christian Cole said in the post-match conference.

“A draw with the champions of Africa at home is great. It is a fantastic achievement for Sierra Leone. I know this competition will be difficult as we are in a group including Egypt and South Africa, but our goal is to reach the Nations Cup,” he added.

Mustapha Bangura, who plies his trade with AIK in Sweden, was the hero of the day with his 56th-minute goal.

Bangura is a handpicked prodigy of Kallon, who is a living legend in his homeland. Kallon arranged a trial for the striker in Sweden and he was immediately signed by Swedish Third Division IFK Varnamo. However, after netting 12 goals in 13 games last season, Bangura was promptly snapped up by the Swedish champions.

AIK coach Alex Miller is impressed with the three goals the Leone Stars’ striker has scored his season. “I like Mohamed because when he gets the ball there’s only one thing on his mind – he goes straight for goal,” Miller says.

Mosimane will also have to give serious consideration to Kallon, who missed the game against Egypt at the weekend, having turned down a call-up due to a lack of fitness. He has recovered from a knee injury which sidelined him for two months and returned to club action very recently. He has said he wants to get into better shape before representing his country.

Sierra Leone currently lie second in the group and Kallon is aware that a victory over Bafana at home is a must if they are to have any hope of making it to the finals.

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Sox: 2010-09-08 02:39

i personally think he must recall Bennie Mcdonalds, with all those 13 clear cut chances awarded to Mphela and parker Bennie would atleast scored 5 of them, our defence & midfield are brilliant we only need one piece then the puzzle is complete, until we find somebody that can do what Bennie is cappable of plz bring back, we are not going to have many chances against Leone and Pharoahs so we need a proven prolific scorer who can even score from dead *****,who is cappable of creating havoc with just one touch or chance afforded, let Mphela partner him for speed

Kwest: 2010-09-08 21:21

There is no need to raise alarms yet. I'm sure our opponents are good in their own unique ways, but need to focus on no1; US. True, we should not take our opponents for granted but we shouldnt compromise our style of play and attitude cos of opposition.

CTK: 2010-10-01 12:48

Pitso, these are early days, all Bafana Coaches which makes starting line up for Rugby game including 2 reserves; Have qualified for this Tournament except Santana so this tells you that its early days. You can play 20 games and win them for now but your actual first assignment is to qualify for Africa Nations Cup...we will see about the WC which I doubt when we turn our heads to that you will most probably gone...