Kwayiba and Cupido lead Bafana Bafana to a solid win against Mozambique
SINOXOLO Kwayiba and Ashley Cupido scored second half goals that helped Bafana Bafana beat Mozambique 2-0 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Tuesday night.
South Africa's men's senior national team should have won the match by a much bigger margin such was their domination and numerous chances they created.
Not that coach Hugo Broos would have complained, the victory, better than what transpired at the same venue on Friday when Bafana drew goalless against Tanzania.
As he'd promised, Broos gave every player he selected a chance to play and Chippa United's Kwayiba scored his first goal in national team colours and even walked away with the Player-of-the-match award.
His goal came three minutes after the break as he headed in a corner kick by Mohauu Nkota.
Kwayiba could have scored a hat-trick actually as he incredulously side footed the ball way off target when Oswin Appolis set him up on 86 minutes. He'd also missed another on 21 minutes.
Ashley Cupido made it 2-0 with his first goal for Bafana after ten appearances by just lobbing the ball into the open net after the Mozambique defence had given the ball away on the left side of their box. Nkota was again responsible for the assist.
The match could well have been over as a contest by half time, such was the domination Bafana enjoyed and their ability to pierce the Mambas' defence open.
The hosts had no less than seven shots on target at the break but they found Ivanne Urrubal in an uncompromising mood, the Mozambique goalkeeper playing a blinder.
Relebohile Mofokeng could easily have had a first half hat-trick had it not been for the brilliance of the number one who plays his club football for Sombo in Mozambique.
The Orlando Pirates star was in imperious form as he hovered around the top of the box, switching flanks and varying his attempts at goal – shooting from range, trying to dribble his way past defenders and getting into good position to receive passes.
He had his initial chance on 17 minutes when he made a fantastic break to receive a through ball and watched in disbelief as Urrubal used his outstretched leg to block his low shot that was headed in.
Later on the Mambas keeper stopped Mofokeng's shot from range but the young South African did not give up.
Late in the half, he tested the keeper with a sweetly-struck high shot but Urrubbal was equal to the task, showing his agility to fling himself up and punch the ball away.
There were chances for Kwayiba and Nkota on ten and 21 minutes respectively but Urrubal was uncompromising, ensuring the scores were level when the referee blew his whistle for the break
Yet there was no way just one man was going to withstand such relentless pressure as what the goalkeeper endured and it was just a matter of time before Mozambique were breached.
And it took just three minutes after the break for the resistance to crumble, Kwayiba heading in Nkota's corner almost unchallenged.
The Pirates man could have made it 2-0 on 54 minutes but Urrubal again came to the Mambas' rescue with a good save pushing away Nkota's left-footed piledriver after he'd cut in from the right.
Mozambique had one chance late on but Ricardo Leaner pulled off a fantastic save as Bafana left Broos smiling from ear to ear, confident that he now has a much larger pool of players to pick his squad from.
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