Bafana Bafana and Kaizer Chiefs legend Doctor Khumalo has insisted South Africa failing to adjust to the conditions in Rwanda at the waterlogged Huye Stadium were their downfall.
Bafana lost 2-0 to 140th-placed Rwanda, who celebrated their first win at home in over two years after stunning Hugo Broos’ men in the first half.
After the match, Khumalo gave his assessment of the defeat, saying Bafana didn’t play badly, but they did not adjust well to the conditions on the pitch, which was waterlogged in the first half after thunderstorm close to kick-off.
“If you’re wondering how they scored, how they tried to find their players in the final third, it was route one,” he said on SABC1.
“With us, we wanted combinational play.
“If I was part of the team, the coach then – understanding my strengths, will I be able to dribble, no I can’t.
“Bring a player that will be a plus for us, positive for us to play like this. Which department were we supposed to add on? A striker, in our striking force because we need to pump balls to them.
“We don’t need jugglers in this game. We can’t play. We can see in the first 10 minutes, we can’t play.”
Khumalo also drew a comparison to his generation would adjust to similar conditions and switch up their style of play on a waterlogged pitch.
“We played Madagascar, the only side of the field that was better, it was only on the wings and Eric [Tinkler] went down and Clive [Barker] to came on to say ‘Guys, let’s pump the ball to Helman [Mkhalele] and Doctor. So we’re playing only from crosses,” he explained.
“It’s the same! Will the wing-play be effective be in this game? No. Will our combinational play be effective? No.
“What are these guys doing? Route one! Which department in our people do we need to improve? The striking department.
“We’re not saying the team played bad but the footballing problems were not dealt with. We didn’t deal with the conditions of the field and the footballing problems.”
The Bafana legend also pointed out that Rwanda used all the tricks, which usually is a common theme when traveling for away matches on the continent.
“That’s a footballing problem, because a game is supposed to have ball boys, but we didn’t see any,” he added.
“It’s another African mentality to destabilise us. Score early and shut the door and that’s it.
“You need brave soldiers, you need brave players to interpret the situation without the coach telling you.”
