Bafana held by Zimbabwe to leave World Cup hopes hanging in the balance

Hugo Broos was gutted and so were his players as Bafana Bafana’s hopes of qualifying for the 202 Fifa World Cup were in tatters after playing to a 0-0 draw against Zimbabwe at a packed Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Friday.

With Benin beating Rwanda 1-0 away from home to stay on top of Group C on 17 points ahead of their final away clash to Nigeria on Tuesday, Bafana remained second on 15 points.

South Africa are now two points behind Benin, who have a two-goal advantage and will certainly qualify with a victory against the Super Eagles.

Bafana can still qualify if they beat Rwanda at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on Tuesday.

But that can only happen if Nigeria does them a huge favour by beating Benin, which is a possibility as Nigeria can still make the playoffs if they finish second.

But to do that, Nigeria will have to beat Benin by a clear three goals.

But the bottom line is that Bafana’s fate is no longer in their hands.

The mess that the SA Football Association made in playing an ineligible Teboho Mokoena in March against Lesotho was always going to come back to haunt Bafana.

Fifa docked South Africa three points, points that could have kept Bafana on top of their group despite this draw against Zimbabwe.

Bafana were unlucky not to score in this match as they hit the post three times and dominated possession against a side which came to salvage their pride in this encounter.

Nerves and anxiety were the main reasons Bafana could not get a goal in the opening half as they dominated possession.

The South Africans struggled to get into gear until Sipho Mbule spoke to Oswin Appollis to stop crossing long balls when they were nearing the box.

That advice nearly paid off immediately as Mbule was the first Bafana player to test Washington Arubi in Zimbabwe’s goals, his strike just outside the bow parried out for a corner.

Mohau Nkota was unlucky not to open the scoring when his long-range shot hit the upright after beating a busy Arubi.

Right on the stroke of halftime Bafana was unlucky again when Nkosinathi Sibisi’s header off Aubrey Modiba’s corner kick, missed the posts by a few centimetres.

On the other hand Zimbabwe finished the half without having made an attempt at Ronwen Williams’ goals.

This was mainly because Bafana were very organised in defence where Nkosinathi Sibisi and his Orlando Pirates teammate Mbekezeli Mbokazi kept things simple and tight.

Aubrey Modiba on the left and Mamelodi Sundowns colleague Khuliso Mudau were busy up and down, always supporting when Broos’ team was on the attack.

Despite Zimbabwe being reduced to 10 men after striker Knowledge Musona was shown a red card for a second bookable foul Bafana still struggled to penetrate the Warriors who defended in numbers.

The best of all chances in the second half fell to Lyle Foster who dribbled past Arubi but still had his shot cleared off the line by defender Knowledge Hadebe.

Zimbabwe coach Michael Nees started this match with at least six players either currently playing for PSL clubs in South Africa or those who had played in South Africa before.

In attack Zimbabwe had two former Kaizer Chiefs strikers in Khama Billiat and Musona.

Wolves midfielder Nyasha Munetsi, formerly with Orlando Pirates, and defender Teenage Hadebe, with Chiefs, were the others.

In goals, Zimbabwe had veteran gloveman Arubi who plays for Marumo Gallants and at left back they had Devine Lunga of Mamelodi Sundowns.

Also on the stands Zimbabwe didn’t feel like they were ‘home’ but away from Harare as there were many Zimbabweans who reside in South Africa who came in their numbers to support the Warriors despite the fact they were long out of contention to qualify for the World Cup having come to this encounter with only four points from eight matches.

Other Group C results on Friday

Rwanda 0 Benin 1

Lesotho 1 Nigeria 2