Bafana Bafana and Panama played out into a 1-1 draw in their first meeting at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, with two sides still to meet in the rematch on Tuesday in Cape Town.
Edgar Bárcenas opened the scoring for Panama in the first half before Oswin Appollis rattled the back in the second stanza to equal the scoreline.
In the Bafana starting line-up, Ime Okon came in as a new inclusion in the defence pairing with Khulumani Ndamane, while Themba Zwane made his return to the side, taking up the number 10 role.
Both teams had a relatively calm start as they looked to settle into the game, with little goalmouth action in the early stages. Bafana seemed to be forcing the visitors into their own half, looking to create opportunities.
In one of their few attacking moves, Panama went ahead in the 23rd minute as Bárcenas punished a misplaced pass by Khuliso Mudau. Panama goalkeeper Luis Ricardo Mejía made a big save in the 29th minute, keeping out a well-taken free-kick from Aubrey Modiba.
Bafana couldn’t produce much threatening action as they continued to play sideways, creating few goal-scoring chances – as a shot from Tshepang Moremi just missed the goal. In the 42nd minute, the visitors were forced into a change after goalkeeper Mejía picked up an injury, with Orlando Mosquera coming on as his replacement.
Two minutes later, Lyle Foster squandered a golden opportunity to level the scoreline when his one-on-one attempt was easily saved by the goalkeeper. Panama was leading 1-0 when the game reached the interval.
Bafana came back from the break and quickly found the leveller through Appollis after a headed pass from Mudau. Moments later, the play was evenly contested as both teams searched for another goal to take the lead.
Lyle Foster again had the biggest chance of the half but his shot from close range hit the goalkeeper after doing well to free up some space for himself.
The introduction of Relebohile Mofokeng and Jayden Adams sparked greater attacking impetus, with the forwards seemingly getting more chances to trouble Panama’s defence.
Bafana kept knocking on the door in the later stages of the match in search of the winner, but the Central American side was solid enough to sweep all the hosts’ attempts. The match eventually ended in a stalemate as both teams couldn’t find the back of the net once more.
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