by Benjamin Nyirenda
Bafana Bafana claimed back-to-back wins in Group G after defeating Ethiopia 3-1 on Saturday afternoon in their FIFA World Cup qualifier.
Bafana made three changes from the late win over Ghana, as Terrence Mashego, Tshegofatso Mabasa and Vincent Pule were brought to the fore but Pule got injured in the warm-up and his place was taken by Thabiso Kutumela.
Speaking after the much needed win, coach Hugo Broos said that they showed character to win this difficult game played on a rather difficult pitch.
“We had to make an early substitution in the first half because Tshegofatso Mabasa was struggling and didn’t do much of what we had asked him to do so we needed to change. But that injury to Vincent Pule during warm up and had to be replaced by Thabiso Kutumela did not really disturb our plans because Kutumela together with the other 10 players did the best for the team and we came from behind to win the game, ” he said.
He however said that the players lacked in confidence compared to the way they played against Ghana but it was mainly due to the poor playing field at the stadium. ” I am really surprised why Ethiopia would choose such a stadium for such an important game because it also affected them as a ball playing team. But we are happy we won and we will take the win to South Africa,” he concluded.