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After starting his second spell at Bafana Bafana with a 2-1 win over Guinea in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier at the Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday, coach Pitso Mosimane has urged his side to remain grounded as he focuses on building on that perfect start.
Bafana made a strong start to their qualifying campaign, with Ime Okon opening the scoring in the first half before Guinea levelled matters through Seydouba Cisse.
Substitute Samukele Kabini then scored the winning goal to hand Mosimane victory in his first match since he replaced Hugo Broos.
The result is important in Group D, with co-host Kenya already qualified for the finals, and Mosimane knows another victory against Eritrea will put them in the driving seat.
“Good start; let’s keep our feet on the ground.
“We don’t have to be too excited; it is only the first game,” Mosimane said during the post-match media conference.
“We played well. We are a good team, but there is still a long way to go.”
Before their second match on Wednesday, Mosimane admitted they would have to work on their finishing, with the two goals coming from defenders.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t take the chances we created. But we put pressure on and showed we wanted to score,” he said.
“We had many free kicks and corners. The South African challenge is that we don’t score easily.
“We score two out of six chances, maybe. But we had the right mentality; we wanted to play and fight and press.
“We created opportunities. You can complain about not scoring, but you cannot complain about not creating.”
Before the Kabini goal, Mosimane spent time chatting to him on the touchline.
However, he refused to take the credit for the left-back’s impact.
“I don’t take credit for those things because we coaches, sometimes, when there’s a goal, we want to sound intelligent,” he said.
“But that’s my talk with him. I can’t tell you what we spoke about. We are overloaded with fullbacks.
“[Fawaaz] Basadien is also available, but Kabini is playing at a good level. He needs to be given a chance.
“Kabini is a big, solid boy. He’s strong, and you could see that the Guinea players are big and strong.” — Sowetan
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