|
|
|
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||
|
Bafana Bafana eye the second round
South Africa bolstered their hopes of moving into the second round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan with a narrow victory over now eliminated Slovenia. It was probably the worst game so far in the tournament and South African coach Jomo Sono admitted as much. "It was not a nice game. We didn't come here to play a nice game. We came here to win." Siyabonga Nomvethe scored the only goal of the match, though South Africa had the lion's share of the chances. Slovenia struggled to create much danger. Bafana Bafana now take on Spain hoping to take point and guarantee their place in the second round. South Africa opened the scoring quickly but in less-than-beautiful fashion when Quinton Fortune served a free kick from the left. The cross curled in for Siyabonga Nomvethe, who failed to make contact with his head, but the ball hit off his right thigh and deflected into the net. South Africa looked the more dangerous side through most of the first half-hour, though they did little to test Slovenia goalkeeper Marko Simeunovic. Slovenia, for their part, threatened more in the final quarter-hour of the half, nearly getting the equaliser when a 19-metre shot from Milenko Acimovic went just wide of the far post. South Africa nearly grabbed a second late in the first half when Sibusiso Zuma beat a defender on the right side and cut the ball back from the by-line to Benedict McCarthy, who had an open goal in front of him but could not get his shot off before the defence closed in on him. South Africa threatened early in the second half, with McCarthy firing a powerful shot on goal from 20 metres that Simeunovic pushed wide for a corner Bafana Bafana continued to look to Fortune to create from the left wing and on set pieces, and the Manchester United man almost set up a second goal when he served a wonderful cross to the near post for McCarthy, whose header hit the stanchion and went out for a goal kick. McCarthy missed another golden chance seconds later when he received the ball near the penalty spot but struck his shot directly at Simeunovic. Slovenia finally showed some life in the 71st minute when Nastja Ceh headed a right-wing cross on goal, but South Africa goalkeeper Andre Arendse was able to slap it away for a corner. There was another scare for South Africa when Amir Karic pounced on a bad give-away in the South African end and fired a powerful shot that went just over the bar. Simeunovic did well to keep South Africa from sealing the win when he came off his line and saved a shot from Delron Buckley. After the match Jomo
Sono was naturally elated. He spoke of his pride in his players. "I
am proud of them. These kids, that's what I call them, even though there
are some older ones. They played well. We looked at the books and tapes
a million times. We were always looking for chances. The boys did great.
It's our first win in the World Cup. " "I would like
to say thank you to the people who travelled from back home. Their voices
have made a difference. They are the 12th player on the field. " |
 |
Roberts
calls it a day Where
is Benin? Ford
stalled by UCB Blatter
crushes Hatyatou Eto'o
Samuel? In
Round 1 Metsu's
secret The
next Haile Profiles New
kids on the
|
|
|
|
|
© Copyright African Sport, 2000 |
Site
design by Lee Chamberlain
|
