Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau missed a first-half penalty as Mali secured a 2-0 win in their Group E opener at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium on Tuesday evening.
After the proverbial curtain raiser, where Namibia stunned Tunisia at the same venue in Korhogo, Ivory Coast, it already put an immediate pressure test for South Africa.
And they looked up to the task for – but Tau’s 19th-minute penalty miss was the what-could-have-been moment that has defined Bafana over the last decade.
Evidence Makgopa was elbowed inside the area and Teboho Mokoena initially stepped up before the Al Ahly star went ahead and skied the effort over the cross bar of Young Africans SC number one Djigui Diarra.
Bafana looked the more threatening and dominated possession of the opening half but that was all for nothing as the Mailians, spurned by the dominant support of their fans, who made the 600km trip from their bordering country to create a party-like atmosphere,
Captain Hamari Traore opened the scoring after reacting the quickest when Williams pushed stunning free-kick onto the bar after Mothobi Mvala conceded a foul just outside the area before Auxerre forward Lassine Sinayoko doubled their advantage six minutes later from the hour mark.
It clearly cut the sails of Hugo Broos’ side who were left to chase the game, and the ball, for large stages of the final half hour.
And it proved a task they weren’t able to come back from as the West Africans made early inroads to move top of the group with three points, ahead of the Brave Warriors, who secured their first-ever win at the AFCON over the third-ranked team on the continent.
