Gutsy Bafana Bafana fall to World No. 10 in Switzerland!

Stage fright played a big role in the friendly match between Portugal and South Africa tonight.

From the first whistle, it was clear that Bafana Bafana had every intention to play football and not be bullied like they were two matches back, against Chile. Teko Modise, Lance Davids, Macbeth Sibaya and Simphiwe Tshabalala did their best to hold the midfield together despite the early 3rd minute goal scored by the Portugese, to no avail.

Deco, Nani, Pepe and Manesh all stamped their authority on the game. The South Africans managed to show moments of brilliance, threading the ball effortlessly through the oppositions midfield, only to have the defence and sometimes the goal keeper, stifle their efforts.

The second Portugese goal on the 67th minute sealed fate of Bafana Bafana and brought on a number of substitutions by Portugal, one of which was Cristiano Ronaldo. Lucas Thwala and Nasief Morris came to the party and rendered him ineffective despite Ronaldo's fancy footwork.

The last 10 minutes of them match would have been evenly contested had the South Africans made the most of their chances in front of goal through Mashego and Khayenza.

All in all, the finall score could have been worse were it not for the gutsy performance by Bafana Bafana. As one of Bafana Bafana's biggest couch critics, I have only two suggestions for the South African head coach:

i) The attacking midfielder could do more as the first line of defence when the opposition mounts a counter attack.

ii) The team's management staff need to invest in a lot of time in boosting the morale and self-confidence of the team. This will help the team play their own brand of football with confidence. The same confidence that saw Bafana Bafana take on Brazil and the rest of Africa in the late 1990's.

Bafana Bafana may have lost but they went down fighting, that all that matters in my books!!