Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki is happy with the performance of his players following the 1-1 draw against Egypt in a first leg of the first round of African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers at Free State Stadium on Sunday night.
The Egyptians had stunned the home crowd when Mohamed Hassan Hashem Abdelaal scored a beautiful goal in the 66th minute to take the lead in this tight contest.
But the USA-bound Jammie Webber had other ideas and equalised in equally devastating fashion to beat Egypt captain and goalkeeper Mahmoud Mohamed Kassem in the 80th minute to ensure a share of the spoils.
“The structure for me is everything because when you have the structure, it means everybody understands their roles and functions within the game, whether in possession or out of possession,” said Ntseki.
“The boys did very well in terms of performance, but the final result was not that pleasing knowing very well that we still have to go to Egypt in the second leg. We saw how they conducted themselves, especially after scoring, when they were playing for time. Personally, I’ve played too many games against Egypt in the junior teams and also in the senior teams.”
Egypt coach Wael Reyad said: “But we have many, many players who did not come with us because they had problems with their passports and papers, something like that. But we played with 15 or 16 players only. I told my players after the match, it was a very tough game because it was the first time for them to play for the national team.”
The Pharaohs will host Bafana at Suez Canal Stadium in the second leg on Sunday.
The winner on aggregate or penalties will then face either Malawi or Comoros in the second round to determine who qualifies for the CHAN tournament.
