Bafana Bafana  tasted an international break in defeat, losing 2-1 to Zambia at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on Sunday. These result come three days after Bafana played draw against Namibia in the same venue the past Thursday .

Bafana were introduced to international football in 1992 By FIFA to date they have met with Zambia on the pitch 21 times.  Zambia  have won seven of those encounters, Bafana six and eight matches between the teams ending in draws. The last time the sides met was back in March 2018, Bafana won 2-0 thanks to goals from Percy Tau and Lebo Mothiba. In this game the odds seemed to be in favour of  the Zambians as Bafana failed to convert opportunities into goals

Keagan Dolly had opened the scoring for the home side following a delicate pass from industrious Percy Tau on the 78th minute. However  Zambia responded almost immediately when Kapamba got a pass inside the box before rifling an unstoppable shot past the otherwise steady Dareen Keet on the 83rd minute.  After two minutes , the comeback was complete as Bafana Bafana were caught napping at the back and Zulu had the simplest of tasks of slotting the ball home. It was a bitter pill to swallow for Molefi Ntseki’s charges who had dominated the game in the first 45 minutes and early in the second half. Tau was always a menace and showed his class with some intelligent moves but most of his moves, found no takers.

While the home team created a lot of chances in the first 45 minutes, it was Zambia who almost snatched the lead when Fashion Sakala’s shot came off the upright towards the end of the first half. The second half started the same way as the first half and after missing some gilt edged chances, South Africa took the lead.

For South Africa, these are disappointing results as the team  gears up to face Sao Tome e Principe in next month’s home and away Afcon qualfiers.

This was the line up :
Starting XI: Darren Keet (GK), Reeve Frosler, Thulani Hlatshwayo (C), Motjeka Madisha, S’fiso Hlanti, Andile Jali, Teboho Mokoena, Themba Zwane, Percy Tau, Thabiso Kutumela, Lyle Foster.
Subs: Ricardo Goss (GK), Abubaker Mobara, Gladwin Shitolo, Thibang Phete, Mosa Lebusa, Mothobi Mvala, Siyethemba Sithebe, Thabo Nodada, Keagan Dolly, Luther Singh, Kermit Erasmus