Bafana Bafana coach, Gordon Igesund said it was very critical for his team to have a good start to the CHAN tournament.
The hosts comfortably beat Mozambique 3-1 after coming from behind with the help of a brace from man-of-the-match Bernard Parker.
“I thought we created a good number of chances and scoring three goals was a good return for our efforts. We were in total control of the game despite falling behind early in the game,” said Igesund.
The Bafana coach said it was imperative to have a great start as history has normally shown that teams that win the first game would go on and qualify for the next round in a tournament.
He also lauded midfielder Hlompo Kekana’s long range strike which sent Cape Town Stadium into raptures.
“Hlompo Kekana’s piledrive was one of the greatest goals I have ever seen. After that I thought we totally controlled the proceedings,” he said.
His counterpart, Joao Chissano said while he didn’t want to blame the wet pitch for the defeat, he wondered why the groundsman had sprayed lots of water which made the pitch very slippery.
“I also think the equalising goal was a soft penalty. Had the referee not given a penalty, I don’t think anyone would have complained. But all in all I thought Bafana were full value of their win.”
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