Bafana Bafana were beaten 2-0 by the Super
Eagles in the Nelson Mandela Challenge on
Wednesday night. Uche Nwofor came on for the second half and
scored both goals for Nigeria. Bafana and the Eagles both created their fair
share of chances, but the visitors dominated
overall, with Stephen Keshi’s shrewd second
half substitutions tipping the balance. Despite a slow start to the match, John Ogu
had the first shot of the game on four minutes,
from outside the box, but it was way high and
wide. Thuso Phala was yellow carded as early as the
fifth minute, when he tried to take a free-kick
to quickly. The set-piece was easily cleared by
Nigeria. Nigeria’s first real chance came from a ball
over the top, which left centre-backs
Mulomowandau Mathoho and Thabo Nthethe at
sixes and sevens. Nnamdi Oduamadi got to the
ball, but the threat was intercepted by
Itumeleng Khune. The Super Eagles had another half chance on
16 minutes. The ball was swept out wide to
Sunday Mba, who spun it back in from the left
to Elderson Echiejile in the penalty area, who
goes for an acrobatic volley that went over the
bar. Shortly after, Dean Furman collected the ball
just outside the box and Bafana went on the
counter. Bernard Parker sent the ball through
to Tokelo Rantie, who made a strong run but
could not beat Efe Ambrose and the ball went
out for a corner. On 24 minutes, Furman again collected the ball
in the middle and scooped it out to Parker, who
got behind the Nigeria defence and looked to
combine with Siphiwe Tshabalala, but the ball
was just in front of him. On half an hour Nigeria came close, when Ogu
hit a curler, which thumped the top corner post
with Khune stranded. A few minutes later Reneilwe Letsholonyane
found Rantie outside the box, who burst
through the Nigeria defence on a solo run and
had a shot, but it was straight at Austin Ejide. Nigeria went on the offensive in the next few
minutes, with Obinna Nsofor and Ogu on
target, but Khune dealt with the chances – the
second in unconventional style, with his chin. Rantie then hit the side netting, after making
space for himself in the box, before
Letsholonyane hit the ball straight against
Godfrey Oboabona after a pass from Rantie. Nigeria made three changes at the start of the
second half, bringing on Victor Moses for Mba,
Ahmed Musa for Nsofor and Nwofor for Shola
Ameobi. Parker forced a good save from Ejide at the
start of the second half with a free-kick, and
the Eagles captain managed to parry Nthethe's
effort off the rebound. Four minutes later Nwofor made it 1-0, scoring
with a cheeky backheel after a cutback from
Oduamadi, after some great play by Moses on
the left to hold off Phala and skip past a couple
of Bafana tackles. Letsholonyane was set up by Luyolo Nomandela
a few minutes later, but he sent his shot over
the crossbar. Nwofor made it 2-0 in the 68th minute with a
one-touch goal after some great play by the
Super Eagles. Moses skipped past his marker
and played in Musa, who cut back to an
unmarked Nwofor for a simple tap-in. Igesund brought on Lerato Chabangu for
Letsholonyane on 75 minutes, and he
immediately took a shot at goal from outside
the box after spotting Ejide off his line, but the
ball was just over the bar. 10 minutes from time, Parker came close with
a free-kick that beat the wall, but went just
over the crossbar. In injury time, ‘Shabba’ came close, after
twisting past a couple of Nigeria defenders, but
his shot was saved. Shortly after, substitute Lebogang Manyama hit
a last-gasp low shot on target, but it was inches
wide.
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