While Ronwen Williams had a superb match between the posts, Bafana Bafana lacked a bit of spark and sparkle in their Africa Cup of Nations opener against Ivory Coast on Monday, writes JOHN GOLIATH.

Ronwen Williams saved Bafana Bafana’s blushes …

The SuperSport United man was a surprise choice, but he proved to be an inspired one. Williams made a couple of world-class saves to give Bafana a chance of getting something out of the match. He made a brilliant stop to keep out Jonathan Kodjia from point-blank range in the first half, before denying Nicolas Pepe a set-piece goal with a magnificent finger-tip save.

Bafana’s defence caught napping for Ivory Coast goal …

Coach Stuart Baxter would have been miffed by the way his team conceded the only goal of the match. The Bafana defenders were all over the show after their midfielders gave the ball away in the Ivory Coast half and Max-Alain Gradel found Kodijia unmarked behind South Africa’s last line. It’s the type of goal in a tight group that could come back to haunt Bafana later in the tournament.

Bafana looked a tad off the pace …

South Africa’s lack of match practice before the start of the tournament showed with a bumbling display on attack. Bafana Bafana hardly managed to string any passes together, while movement up front resembled a food queue at an old-age home. The midfield also lacked a lot of mobility and invention. There were no runs into space or neat one-twos. They have to speed up the game.

Ivory Coast physically imposing themselves in the heat …

Because Bafana struggled with their distribution they were easy to pick off by the physical Ivory Coast players. The South Africans needed to spread the ball around a lot quicker than they managed to do, and were caught in possession by trying to take one touch too many or trying to dribble their way out of trouble. It was an all too familiar scene, as Bafana again played into the hands of the opposition.

Baxter’s lack of midfield substitutions a mystery …

The midfield combo of Dean Furman and Kamohelo Mokotjo clearly didn’t spark Bafana’s attack. Both are fantastic grafters in the middle of the park, but Baxter should have tried to spice things up in the last quarter after his team went a goal down. Sibusiso Vilakazi added some oomph in the second half, but South Africa needed another playmaker to try to make things happen late on.