SOWETAN | Bafana loss - no need to panic

Bafana Bafana’s defeat to Mali in their opening Africa Cup of Nations match is a huge setback for the team and country, but it is at a time like this when we need cool heads.

Hugo Broos’s men still have two more matches – against Namibia on Sunday and Tunisia next week – to complete the group phase and hopefully secure one of 16 places to the next round.

Tuesday’s 0-2 loss to Mali in Korhogo triggered predictable criticism for our national team who, we must emphasise, did not disgrace themselves in the Group E match they should have taken control of in the first half.

Percy Tau’s missed penalty early in the game set the team back, and there were two or three other chances which were not taken during that dominant first period.

Bafana completely lost the plot in a disjointed second half during which Mali seized the opportunity to score two goals in quick succession. In the end Mali’s experience at this level was a major difference, and we congratulate them.

What we shouldn’t do while acknowledging we lost to a better team, is to demoralise our own team with unnecessary hyperbole. The defeat is not the end of the world, nor did it signal Bafana’s exit from the tournament.

We  were thus shocked to see sports minister Zizi Kodwa entering Bafana’s dressing room to speak to them after the match. That was totally unnecessary and such action, however well intended, could put the players under huge pressure for the remaining two group games.

Kodwa may have been meaning well, to encourage the team, but all his address did was to show that Bafana are the only national team taken for granted in this country. If they are not mocked by fans, a minister can enter their dressing room and offer “tactical advice”.

Bafana vice captain Tau has also come in for unfair singling out by trolls on social media for his missed penalty. This is not going to fill our team with confidence heading into Sunday’s must-win clash against the Namibians, who shocked former winners Tunisia.

We have no reason not to trust that Bafana can bounce back from Tuesday’s disappointment, as they have before under Broos. Just last year, we thought they wouldn’t even make the Afcon finals after a draw with Liberia at Orlando Stadium, only to bounce back days later by winning in Monrovia and securing a ticket to Ivory Coast.

We are confident they can turn it around again.