Panama's Jorge Guierrez battles with Bafana Bafana's Bongolethu Hlongwane.at the DHL stadium Cape Town.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos admits his team were overpowered by Panama in Cape Town, but “it’s not a worry” ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
Bafana suffered their first home defeat in five years under Broos’ tenure with the Central Americans claiming a 2-1 victory before a capacity crowd at the former 2010 FIFA World Cup venue.
A magical long-range strike from Bafana’s US-based central defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi was sandwiched between goals from Jose Cordoba and Jiovany Ramos for Los Canaleros.
Bafana controlled possession for long periods of the game, especially in the first half when they should have had more to show for their endeavours, but the second half belonged to the visitors as they began to impose themselves physically on the contest.
The home team’s midfielders were muscled off the ball by their visibly bigger opponents with the frail Orlando Pirates youngster Relebohile Mofokeng particularly targeted.
Broos is fully aware of the situation but believes his team has shown in the past that they can find a way to compete in the physical stakes having learnt their lessons from previous Afcon encounters.
“The second half, we were overpowered by Panama physically,” Broos said.
“We had a little bit of a problem that we had two years ago in Ivory Coast, the first game against Mali, where we were also overpowered.
“And we could solve that problem at AFCON. Because after that, after Mali, we knew that we had to be more determined in the duel, we have to be stronger. It's not good to give too much space to players who are powerful.
“You saw a few times, they were quicker than we on long distance, not in the moment itself, but 25, 30, 35 metres, they were quicker. And this is something to do with power. So, again, we know what we have to work on.
"It's not a worry, certainly not, because I know that if we can be together for a while and work on that, that South Africa can also play. Not that style, but because we don't have players of 1.85m, not all the players, but we can work on it. And we succeeded to do it in AFCON two years ago, and we will succeed to do it now also.”