South Africa (0) 1
Phala 51
Algeria (0) 3
Hlatshwayo 67 (og), Ghoulam 71, Slimani 83
Mongomo - Football is a game of inches. And Bafana Bafana were the width of crossbar away from a famous win over the best team in Africa and getting into a prime position to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Instead, the team will be fighting for their lives for the rest of the tournament here in Equatorial Guinea after a scintillating comeback by Algeria at the Estadio de Mongomo put them on the back foot in Group C.
It was Shakes Mashaba’s first loss at the helm of Bafana, but it could have been very different had his team taken their chances, which included that penalty miss by Tokelo Rantie.
Bafana took a deserved lead through Thuso Phala six minutes into the second half. But after Rantie cracked his penalty against the crossbar, Algeria showed their pedigree by scoring three unanswered goals.
Thulani Hlatswayo headed the ball into his own net, before Faouzi Ghoulam and Islam Slimani secured the points.
After a nervous start, Bafana came to life with a few fantastic moves that had the rather shaky Algerian defence scrambling in the latter part of the first half
with Andile Jali and Oupa Manyisa starting to take control in midfield.
The Algerians came into this match worried about Bafana’s pace, and their defence back-peddled at a rate of knots when the South Africans started running at them.
The captain on the night Dean Furman rattled the Algerian crossbar with a thunderous drive from outside the penalty area in the 24th, after Rantie teed him up with a superb lay-off.
Bafana were dealt a blow just before the half-hour mark when 18-year-old defender Rivaldo Coetzee went off with a knee injury. The Ajax Cape Town boy was an injury concern before the match kicked off, and his tournament could be over.
Bafana were getting chance after chance towards the end of the first half. The pace of left-back Thabo Matlaba came to the fore as he brought Sibusiso Vilakazi into the game in the Algerian box. However, the Wits captain couldn’t get his shot off and his effort was smothered by Rais Mbolhi.
Jali then had a shot blocked, before the Algerians got some respite when the halftime whistle was blown by the referee.
However, Bafana came out of the blocks at like they were on fire after the break. And they were rewarded for their efforts when Phala rounded off another sweeping move in the 51st minute.
A few minutes later, Bafana hit the Desert Foxes on the counter, with beautiful one-touch football that resulted in a penalty. Rantie stepped up, but his shot clattered into the crossbar, wasting a chance that would later come back to haunt South Africa.
Soon after defender Hlatshwayo headed the ball into the back of his own net to lift the Algerians. And that seemed to suck the life out of Bafana.
Algeria then took the lead when Ghoulam glided past Manyisa and let rip with a thunderous left-footed shot that left Bafana goalkeeper Darren Keet with no chance.
And to cap it all off, Salmani beat Keet with a weak shot that rolled under the goalkeeper’s body. Pretty much summing up the night.
The Star