Mkhalele hails Bafana fighting spirit after reaching Cosafa Plate final
"They put us under pressure and I would say almost the entire game."
Bafana Bafana coach Helman Mkhalele has guided his charges to the Cosafa Plate final. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
Following their win against Madagascar in the Cosafa Plate semi-final, Bafana Bafana coach Helman Mkhalele hailed his team’s fighting spirit.
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Bafana won 2-1 thanks to goals from Keletso Sifama and Chumani Butsaka, which set up a meeting in the Plate final against Botswana to be played at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Sunday.
“I would firstly like to say congratulations to Madagascar, they made sure that our win doesn’t come easy. They are such a good side with a great future. They put us under pressure and I would say almost the entire game. But due to our good defensive organisation, we managed to absorb the pressure and once we regained possession we made sure that we transition quickly,” said Mkhalele.
“We capitalised on the spaces they left behind because you could see it is a team that goes forward in numbers, so there were spaces behind where we were capitalising.”
The Bafana coach added that it was important for his troops to get a win after their disappointing loss to Mozambique in the quarter-finals of the Cosafa Cup.
“But again, I would like to congratulate my team for the resilience they demonstrated against Madagascar. More especially for bouncing back following the disappointment of losing against Mozambique because we were building a foundation there. But this time around, the objective was to instil a winning mentality and we achieved that goal. I would say towards the end some of our players were getting tired,” he added.
Mkhalele was glad to see midfielder Ethan Brooks back in action after the new AmaZulu FC signing got injured before the game against Mozambique and he says they will continue to monitor him to see if he will be fit to play in the final.
