Durban — Bafana Bafana stand-in head coach, Morena Ramoreboli, has waved away any concerns about the team's wastefulness in front of goal despite a narrow win against Botswana.
The South African men's football team was required to come back from a goal down for the second game running as they scraped past the Zebras in their second group match of the tournament.
Before Thatayaone Kgamanye gave the visitors the lead in the 63rd minute, Bafana was guilty of spurning golden chances, including an empty net in the first half.
The hosts were able to hit back by scoring two goals in two minutes after Botswana had gone a man down and they would go on to create several other chances after that with space in abundance.
Victor Letsoalo, Lesedi Kapinga, and Shaun Mogaila were all guilty of missing chances to wrap up the game but the home defence would make sure of victory by staying compact in the final moments.
Ramoreboli, who won the competition back in 2021 has revealed that he is not too worried about the low conversion of opportunities but is rather upbeat about the progression in chance creation.
“Football is so funny, you get goals because of the connection and cohesion between the midfielders and strikers and the same goes for the defence, midfield, and striker,” he told the media.
He then explained: “It quite simply means if a center-back has the ball, it doesn't mean his only option should be a midfielder, so those are some of the things we need to understand,”
“Those are some of the things we need to understand, we are playing to win but also we are trying to build confidence and there will be a lot of errors during this period.”
“For me, I'm not too worried about the opportunities we're creating and missing but I'm happy that there is progress that we see and if we're consistent, we can look back at the tournament and smile,” he expressed.
Orlando Pirates striker Tshegofatso Mabasa was on the receiving end of a lot of criticism during the match as the ‘boo-boys’ laid onto his back until he was substituted in the second half.
However, Ramoreboli urged his players to understand the nature of South African supporters as they sway from one direction to the next depending on performance.
“Let's be honest, supporters in South Africa support you and love you when you do well, and when you make mistakes they start to lose patience and start booing you, it's expected,” he said.
“It's football, Tshego will come back and score a goal and the very same supporters will start clapping for him so we must understand that they just want to see their team do well.”
IOL Sport