Cape Town - South Africa's makeshift Bafana Bafana team were forced to dig deep for a slender 1-0 win over the Comoro Islands at the 11 000-seater Stade Omnisports de Malouzini in the capital Moroni on Friday night.
Khulekani Shezi, the Royal AM central midfielder, scored a late second-half goal to ensure a winning start to Bafana Bafana's African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifying campaign in the first leg. The second leg will be played on July 30 at the Dobsonville Stadium, Johannesburg (kick-off 3pm).
Bafana Bafana stand-in coach Helman Mkhalele who has taken over the reins in the absence of national team coach Hugo Broos was in a pickle ahead of the team's departure. Several Premiership clubs recalled players from the recently assembled Cosafa Cup squad.
The clubs complained that players were needed to participate in pre-season training after missing out while the Cosafa Cup tournament was in progress.
The South Africans only arrived in the Indian Ocean Island country on the morning of the match.
Comoros is the youngest member of Caf (Confederation of African Football) and have a world ranking of 126 and 38th in Africa (out of 54 teams). South Africa is 13th in Africa and 68th world ranked.
Comoros bowed out after the group stages of the recent Cosafa Cup in Durban. They managed one win in three Group A outings, and will now prepare for the return trip to South Africa for the Chan second leg clash in a few days’ time .
Despite the late inclusions in the South African squad, the starting XI managed to dictate play in the opening half but were unable to score. The second half progressed in a similar fashion, but the 21-year-old Shezi broke the ice towards the end of the match.
@Herman_Gibbs
IOL Sport