Themba Zwane bagged a brace to inspire Bafana Bafana to a commanding 4-0 victory over Namibia in the Africa Cup of Nations clash at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo.
Bafana Bafana had to win this game because they lost to Mali five days ago. They jumped out to a three-goal lead by halftime, with Zwane scoring both goals.
South Africa didn’t make it to the last Cup of Nations, so Hugo Broos, a Belgian, took over as coach. He said the team was “too old” and used Zwane as an example.
That was until Zwane kept playing well for his team, Mamelodi Sundowns, and the coach changed his mind.
After Percy Tau scored a penalty, Zwane scored twice more and Thapelo Maseko scored in the second half to give South Africa their biggest win margin in the competition.
Mali has four points, South Africa and Namibia each have three, and Tunisia has one point. The last games in the group are on Wednesday.
South Africa started Thapelo Morena after he came off the bench in the loss to Mali. His runs down the right side caused problems for Namibia right away.
From one, Namibian Riaan Hanamub handled the ball inside the area. The referee pointed to the spot after watching the play on a VAR screen at the field.
Tau got a lot of bad press for missing a penalty kick against Mali, but on 14 minutes, he made up for it with a beautifully struck low penalty that went past Lloyd Kazapua and into the corner of the net.
Tau, who plays for the Egyptian and African giants Al Ahly, ran back to the South African half with a smile on his face. Namibia, on the other hand, looked down because they had fallen behind so quickly.
Then Zwane started his show at a stadium with 20,000 seats in the northernmost of five cities in the Ivory Coast that were hosting Cup of Nations games.
Morena played a big role again when Zwane perfectly met his cross. The ball flew past Kazapua to give Bafana a two-goal lead after 25 minutes.
Based in Portugal When Sphephelo Sithole’s header hit the ground and went over, it was a great chance to score. He and Tau were the only starters who didn’t play for South African clubs.
His miss didn’t last long, though, because Zwane scored again to make it 3-0. He ran from the left side of the field to the goal and shot it past Kazapua and into the far corner of the net.
South Africa had the upper hand, and Kazapua did a great job as halftime approached, tipping a Morena shot just over the crossbar.
Broos, who won the 2017 Cup of Nations with Cameroon, was so sure that his team would win that he took Zwane off in the middle of the second half.
Maseko came on as a replacement and made an immediate impact by sprinting to control a long pass. Kazapua got a hand on his shot, but it still went into the goal.
Photo by Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
