‘Better Bafana beat Zebras

STUART BAXTER will be pleased that Bafana Bafana did not only reach the Cosafa Cup plate final but that they did so courtesy of a vastly-improved showing from their disappointing one when they lost to Tanzania in the quarterfinal.

Bafana played with more authority and confidence on the ball, aspects that were sorely lacking when they missed out on an opportunity to progress to the semi-finals in their pursuit to defend their title.

In the first 20 minutes, Botswana were very aggressive in their tackles to deal with the pressure from South Africa and that resulted in two of their players being given yellow cards.

But that style of play did not derail Bafana as they kept on adding numbers forward in search of an opener.

Their efforts were rewarded when Riyaad Norodien struck in a powerful shot from the edge of the box to give the home side the lead going into the break.

The Orlando Pirates midfielder, whom the Bafana coach Stuart Baxter identified as possible future inclusion in the senior national team, launched the ball home with his rightfoot, leaving the opposition ‘keeper with no chance to make the required save.

South Africa could have made it 3-0 just before the halftime break, but both Mohau Mokate and Mario Booysen fluffed decent chances.

Botswana also created some decent scoring chances but they found goalkeeper Bruce Bvuma hard to beat.

In the second period, Baxter introduced both Jamie Webber and Cole Alexandra for Norodien and Thabo Cele respectively. Alexandra almost made an immediate impact when Botswana’s shot-stopper, Mwampole Masule, received a horrible back pass from his line of defence, as Alexandra was probing forward. Masule though, was quick with his reflexes to keep the ball from falling onto the path of the Bafana midfielder to deny him a scoring opportunity.

Simisani Mathumo nearly equalised with a powerful shot from outside the box .

But the 22-year-old Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper in the South African goals pulled off a stunning save to keep Botswana ‘s hopes of a maiden win over South Africa just a dream.

Just before the stroke of fulltime, Judas Moseamedi struck in the final goal for Bafana which saw them win the encounter by 2-0.

Their success was soured somewhat when Baxter was sent off for something he said to the match officials.

His assistant Thabo Senong will be in charge in