South African football legend Doctor Khumalo has come to the defence of Bafana Bafana players following a shock 2-0 defeat to Rwanda in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
South Africa's bid for World Cup qualification suffered a dent thanks to goals from Innocent Nshuti and Gilbert Mugisha on a dreadful and water-logged pitch at Huey Stadium.
READ | Broos explains why Bafana stuck to tiki-taka despite poor pitch
Bafana offered an improved display in the second half but could not find the net against a defensively solid Rwanda side.
Prior to the encounter, Broos had raised concerns over the poor synthetic field, describing it as 'like playing on the street' and was made worse by heavy rainfall, particularly in the first half.
Despite the conditions, Bafana came under criticism across social media over the surprise defeat.
Rwanda didn't even score against Zimbabwe in the same pitch, But Bafana Bafana are getting all the excuses for conceding 2 goals and not scoring.????
— Mo'???? (@_DimpledMo) November 22, 2023
Even if Bafana Bafana played another 90 min against Rwanda, they will not win this game…. Poor performance from the boys today! The pitch was pathetic! Mistakes from the defence was too childish! We didn't do anything first half! Hopefully we will do better next time! ?????? pic.twitter.com/bsne28I1xO
— Cellular® (@Cellular_jnr) November 21, 2023
Speaking on SABC Sport after the match, Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo defended the 96' Afcon champions.
"But again, what we saw there, we saw a Bafana Bafana – at any given time, you bring Rwanda to any stadium here in South Africa tomorrow, you will see a different Bafana," Khumalo said.
"I could see in the second half that the field was a little bit dry, it was drying up and we have now a [Mihlali] Mayambela wing-player and a [Percy] Tau and a [Zakhele] Lepasa who was giving us that shape that structure."
ALSO READ | Mokoena not surprised by Rwanda mind-games
"The cutback by Mayambela is because guys like Themba [Zwane] are joining the attack, but first half we couldn't have that because of the field.
"Hence I was saying there was nothing wrong with the boys, they did their best but there was nothing they could do about the conditions, which we call footballing problems that we have to deal with.
"If I were to count footballing problems, I would as did you see any ball-boy there? That's a footballing problem because we are chasing the game, you saw Tau had to run to go get the ball and place it on the D-line – that is a footballing problem.
"We don't need that because, he is fetching the ball, placing [for the goalkeeper], when are we going to have a proper structure to defend? That is a problem and it's unfortunate that they had to play with such circumstances.
Bafana now turns its attention to the Africa Cup of Nations set to kick off in January 2024 in Ivory Coast.
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