Kekana urges Bafana to avenge Zimbabwe disappointment with big win

Hlompho Kekana believes Bafana Bafana had no business losing the first-leg World Cup qualifier against Rwanda and has called on Ronwen Williams and Co to make up for that setback with a thorough thrashing of Amavubi.

South Africa’s senior national team were shock 2-0 losers in November 2023 on an artificial turf in Kigali, Hugo Broos’ team incredulously employing a passing game on a pitch that called for route-one football. In hindsight, that defeat could well rob Bafana of a first World Cup qualification in 24 years — Bafana sit second in Group C, two points behind Benin going into the last round of matches on Tuesday.

They host a Rwanda outfit, already eliminated from automatic qualification, at Mbombela Stadium knowing that nothing short of a proper spanking of the East Africans will do.

Bafana are fresh from a disappointing goalless draw against Zimbabwe, and South African soccer fans must be asking whether the team can dust themselves off from the Moses Mabhida setback and get back to winning ways.

Kekana, with vast experience in qualifying matches for both club and country, believes Bafana can still qualify.

“I’ve always believed that every match has its own heartbeat. I do know that in a match of that nature, where you desperately want to win, things might not come your way, not in the way you want it.

"Against Zimbabwe, we created chances that in some matches we would easily have converted, but on Friday it just did not happen. But if we find those chances against Rwanda we have to take them, and I believe we will.

"Friday’s match was one of those where it looked like we could play all evening and still not score.

“I believe we can win against Rwanda and we need to win it by a big margin. We all know that we had no business losing the first leg.

"We have the beating of Rwanda. And because Nigeria still have a chance of qualifying — we can still finish top because they could do us a favour by beating Benin. We just have to win our match.”

Kekana believes the Bafana squad has enough experience to put the Zimbabwe blip behind them and stay focused in Mbombela.

“Everything will depend on the players who have experience to understand that these kinds of things happen (failing to win a match you dominated). They must lift themselves up and go for their World Cup dream. They can win the match against Rwanda.”

To win, Bafana will need to score goals — lots of them.

Yet, given their profligacy against Zimbabwe, questions remain about where those goals will come from. The absence of goal-poacher Iqraam Rayners is a clear weakness, and Evidence Makgopa has yet to provide the sharpness needed in the final third.

It will be up to Mohau Nkota and Oswin Appollis to deliver the goals, while Lyle Foster must finally show why he is so highly rated as a player competing in a top European league.