Bafana Bafana effectively have to
restart their 2013 Africa Cup of
Nations campaign when they
entertain Angola at the Moses
Mabhida Stadium in Durban on
Wednesday. The hosts were disappointing in their Group A
opener versus Cape Verde, while
South Africa's opponents, Angola,
also drew 0-0 in their first match
with Morocco. The South African public were
already doubtful of Bafana's
chances due to their stuttering
form and struggles to find the
back of the net over the last
year. Many fans are already disheartened and believe South
Africa won't progress. However,
Group A promises to be a close
affair that can go down to the
wire. With home ground
advantage, Bafana still have a decent chance to reach the
second round. In their last five matches they
have failed to score in four of
them. The only goals coming in a
3-1 victory against minnows
Malawi. Coach Gordon Igesund has
always stated that he wants to play an attacking game, so he will
not be changing his style mid-
tournament. One cannot conclude
that his attacking philosophy will
not work yet, because he simply
has not had enough time to drill his methods into the first team.
After experimenting with
selection, he only found his best
eleven recently, and they need
time to gel together. To complicate matters the man he
sees as his creative force is
Thulani Serero. The Ajax attacking
midfielder was not 100 per cent
fit to start against Cape Verde.
The same can be said of Bafana's most potent finisher, Katlego
Mphela, who has only recently
returned from a long term injury. One area Bafana can improve on
is their possession in midfield
when Oldham Athletic captain,
midfielder Dean Furman, is
expected to return. It was
previously believed that starting with both Furman and Crystal
Palace midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi
would be too defensive minded.
However, these changes should
be necessary for South Africa to
win the midfield battle as they lacked steal against Cape Verde. While South Africa desperately
miss a match winner, Angola's
main threat is exactly that, their
prolific Real Valladolid striker
Manucho. The former Manchester
United player could be keeping Bafana defenders Bongani
Khumalo and Siyabonga Sangweni
up late at night. Contrary to Bafana's form, Angola
have won four of their last five
matches, including impressive
triumphs against reigning African
champions Zambia and Cameroon.
Angola's preparations begun early in South Africa to get used to the
conditions. So this game could
potentially be the trickiest for
Bafana Bafana in Group A.