Mothobi Mvala has revealed the tactical change that inspired Bafana Bafana's victory over Ethiopia at the weekend.
South Africa maintained their spot at the top of the Group G standings after recording a 3-1 away win over Ethiopia in Saturday's 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
After an evenly-contested first-half, in which Teboho Mokoena gave Bafana Bafana the lead with a late free-kick, coach Hugo Broos implemented a tactical shift during the half-time break in order to consolidate his team's position.
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Mvala was moved to a deeper-lying role, with Mokoena and Ethan Brooks moved into more advanced positions, while an emphasis was placed on attacking set-pieces.
"The game was very tough," the Mamelodi Sundowns star explained.
"Ethiopia is a very good team, they were playing, especially in the middle of the park, they were giving us a hard time.
"We also had our moment in attack, they had their moments too but Ronwen Williams made some very good saves in the first half that kept us in the game.
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"When we went into the changing room at half-time, we changed the formation a little bit. We put [Teboho Mokoena] and Ethan [Brooks] in front of me and I stayed behind, and I think it worked for us.
"We managed them very, very well and that's when we managed to get goals. I think our defending was very good and our set-pieces too, because we knew we had a height advantage, and we used it wisely.
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