Bafana Bafana playmaker Themba Zwane has opened up on their direct playing style against Namibia and the impact of Evidence Makgopa in the team.
South Africa ran out to an emphatic 4-0 win courtesy of a Percy Tau penalty, and Thapelo Maseko goal in between Zwane’s brace.
It was a tactical masterstroke by head coach Hugo Broos as they exploited the full-back positions of The Brave Warriors, while not looking to build from the back, limiting their chances of errors in defence.
“Today we had a different approach, we wanted to pump the ball inside the box, and for us as number 10s and wingers we tried to get the second balls,” Zwane said after winning the Man of the Match award on Sunday evening.
“We know our striker [Makgopa] was gonna win the balls on top and we tried to put them under pressure, try to create more goals and take our chances, as you saw we scored four goals which was good for us.”
Zwane, 34, had scored just one goal in 26 games for Mamelodi Sundowns this season but stated he was never short on confidence to end the Bafana goal drought, as they failed to score in three consecutive games leading into the Namibia showdown.
“I’m confident each game, 100%, I always try to score goals as an attacking player, you need to score to boost your confidence,” he said.
“I’m happy I got two chances and two goals, hopefully, I’ll score [more] going forward [in the tournament].”
South Africa take on Tunisia on Wednesday for the final Group E game at Le Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly at 19h00.
