Visiting Chipolopolo of Zambia on Sunday defeated South Africa 2-1 at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in an international friendly.
Bafana Bafana had taken the lead in the 66th minute courtesy of a Keagan Dolly’s strike. But the Coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic-led Zambians fought back to win this encounter through goals from Kelvin Kampamba (78th minute) and Chaniza Zulu (82nd minute).
On Thursday night, the South African team drew 1-1 with Namibia, a team considered underdogs.
After the Sunday game, South Africa’s coach, Molefi Ntseki, explained that Lyle Foster’s injury in the second minute of this friendly contributed to the defeat and unravelled his plans.
“If you lose a player in the second minute of the game it messes up everything‚” he said in his postmatch interview.
“It was a very big setback to lose Lyle in the beginning of the game. The plan was not to make substitutions as early as we did and that did not give us the rhythm we were looking for because we kept on giving the ball away‚ even in the first half.
“We played like a team with no confidence‚ that is what really killed the momentum and the rhythm of the team … we gave away too many corner kicks very early in the game. If you experience those situations … confidence becomes a bit of a challenge.”
The Bafana Bafana next game comes in November when they play Sao Tome and Principe in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
The friendlies against Namibia and Zambia served as preparations for this crunch qualifier and it remains to be seen whether they boosted Ntseki’s plans.