Bafana Bafana stand-in coach Helman 'Ncane' Mkhalele was encouraged by the come-from-behind-win against Uganda and believes the team is on the right track.
Mkhalele was thrust into the hot seat for the match after fellow assistant Cedomir Janevski was ruled out after testing positive for covid-19 with Hugo Broos already back home in Belgium receiving his vaccination.
Almost all the starters were debutants amongst them Ethan Brooks and Nkosinathi Sibisi so it was no surprise they made a slow start before second half goals from Evidence Makgopa (brace) and Bongokuhle Hlongwane won the game, which was part of preparations for the World Cup qualifiers.
"We had a technical part which we had to make sure we follow," Mkhahele explained after the match.
"Going forward, we will also look at building from the back with fluid combinations because you could see we played too many sideways and backward passes unnecessarily.
"Once the boys start understanding our philosophy, I believe that we are going to build a very strong team that will be very competitive, not only in African football but in world football because South Africa does have the talent and we have seen it.
"With the type of attitude that these boys showed, we will try to make sure that we work on the mental part. In this camp we worked more on making sure that these boys believed in themselves because to wear the Bafana Bafana jersey means you can go out there and die on the field.
"That is what they demonstrated in the second half and I am so proud of them as well. During the first half, we also struggled in the central midfield because that is where the Ugandans – especially number 10 [Allan Okello] and number 8 [Shafiq Kagimu] were able to penetrate us so easily.
"I would attribute that to a lack of experience from our boys and that they were nervous. We only had two training sessions and had almost eleven players that never played together before.
"What we basically told the boys [at half-time] is that we needed to change our formation and personnel that we believe will help us to make sure that they don't build from the back, by us putting high pressure on them at the back.
"That way, once we regain possession in their own half, it becomes very easy for our boys because of their technical abilities. I am so proud that in the second half we took our chances, but you could see towards the end of the game that the boys were tired."