Shakes Mashaba is hardly one to look for a scapegoat, but it was almost impossible not to single out Tokelo Rantie for his missed penalty in Monday defeat to Algeria in Bafana Bafana's Africa Cup of Nations opener.
With South Africa having taken the lead in the 51st minute, Rantie had a chance to put the match beyond Algeria's reach when Bafana were awarded a penalty. He struck the woodwork and - according to Mashaba and defender Thulani Hlatshwayo - Bafana were immediately on the backfoot.
Hlatshwayo scored an own goal to equalise for Algeria, who added two more late in the second half to claim the 3-1 win. Although he agreed with his coach and teammate, captain Dean Furman tried to shield Rantie after the match.
Asked if Rantie was the intended penalty taker for South Africa, the midfielder said the team would have backed anyone to convert the spot kick, including the Bournemouth forward.
"We won the penalty and TK (Rantie) picked up the ball. He is our striker, he was confident and we had a 100% confidence in him. He went for the top corner and sadly it hit the top of the bar and went away. I am sure if the next penalty arrives, TK is a confident player and I am sure he will be there with his hand up to take it," said Furman.
Mashaba lamented the missed spot kick, adding it was responsible for his team going into a shell after that. "We were all over this team and should have killed them easily. But when we missed the penalty that is when I realised that a serious threat is coming because we all looked down. That is where you see good players," Mashaba explained.
"Another thing, when we lost Rivaldo Coetzee [through injury] we never had cohesion in the back four. It was like everyone for himself and the Lord for us all."
If Bafana were clinical, added Mashaba, tournament favourites Algeria would have been exposed. Hlatshwayo, who put the ball in his own net to hand Algeria the equaliser, said Bafana only had themselves to blame.
"I honestly think we brought this on ourselves. We had a lot of chances but could not convert. We scored in the second half but again missed a penalty that we should have scored."
On his mistake, he said: "We started going too deep next to the goal line and there was a lack of communication because we should not have been playing that deep."
Missed penalty kick irks Shakes, not Furman
Shakes Mashaba is hardly one to look for a scapegoat, but it was almost impossible not to single out Tokelo Rantie for his missed penalty in Monday defeat to Algeria in Bafana Bafana's Africa Cup of Nations opener.
With South Africa having taken the lead in the 51st minute, Rantie had a chance to put the match beyond Algeria's reach when Bafana were awarded a penalty. He struck the woodwork and - according to Mashaba and defender Thulani Hlatshwayo - Bafana were immediately on the backfoot.
Hlatshwayo scored an own goal to equalise for Algeria, who added two more late in the second half to claim the 3-1 win. Although he agreed with his coach and teammate, captain Dean Furman tried to shield Rantie after the match.
Asked if Rantie was the intended penalty taker for South Africa, the midfielder said the team would have backed anyone to convert the spot kick, including the Bournemouth forward.
"We won the penalty and TK (Rantie) picked up the ball. He is our striker, he was confident and we had a 100% confidence in him. He went for the top corner and sadly it hit the top of the bar and went away. I am sure if the next penalty arrives, TK is a confident player and I am sure he will be there with his hand up to take it," said Furman.
Mashaba lamented the missed spot kick, adding it was responsible for his team going into a shell after that. "We were all over this team and should have killed them easily. But when we missed the penalty that is when I realised that a serious threat is coming because we all looked down. That is where you see good players," Mashaba explained.
"Another thing, when we lost Rivaldo Coetzee [through injury] we never had cohesion in the back four. It was like everyone for himself and the Lord for us all."
If Bafana were clinical, added Mashaba, tournament favourites Algeria would have been exposed. Hlatshwayo, who put the ball in his own net to hand Algeria the equaliser, said Bafana only had themselves to blame.
"I honestly think we brought this on ourselves. We had a lot of chances but could not convert. We scored in the second half but again missed a penalty that we should have scored."
On his mistake, he said: "We started going too deep next to the goal line and there was a lack of communication because we should not have been playing that deep."
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