Bafana Bafana goalkeeping coach Grant Johnson has revealed what led to South Africa losing against Rwanda on Tuesday.
Bafana suffered an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to the minnows Rwanda, their first defeat in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
READ | Pirates duo ruled out till 2024 and more injury updates
Playing on a waterlogged artificial pitch that felt like a wet carpet, poor defending, it is what saw Bafana concede two quick goals in the first half that was played at Stade Huye in Butare.
The results saw the Hugo Broos side dropping to position 2 on the Group C table, while Rwanda moved to the top spot.
Johnson says they did raise their concerns with the match officials, but they were simply ignored.
"We complained to the match officials, but they just continued as if there was no problem," the former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper tells KickOff.
"If they had just waited 40 minutes, the water would have drained from the pitch."
"Two defensive errors early in the game. We didn't recover from that. There was a rain downpour just before kick-off. It made the pitch almost unplayable.
"I think the Rwandans worked harder, especially at the beginning of the game. Our players struggled in the water on the artificial pitch."
Johnson defended goalkeeper Ronwen Williams for the two goals some feel he should have done better by instructing his defenders to kick the ball out.
"The first goal the error was far away from the goal. Ronwen is very vocal, so that's not the problem.
"In those conditions, we told the players not to try to play at the back but clear the ball.
"Did you see how bad the pitch was at the start? The game should not have started in those conditions."
You must be SIGNED IN to read and post comments.
Click HERE to register!