IBAF African-Nations-Cup 2006 Blog

Guinea stamped their typical westafrican style of play on the game: physical strength and indicidual strength in one on one situations, quick adaption to ball bounces etc..
Added to it the extremely careful tactical approach there was no room given for South African combinations and the Bafana Bafana never found a rhythm.
Patiently Guinea attacked with a low number of players - an obvious contrast to the match before and the adventurous Zambians.
Inaccurate passing on Guineas side made added to the impression of a scrappy game and finishing prefered strenght to accuracy, too.
After South Africa had been worn down and it almost looked like the match migh head for a goalless draw, the French coach brought on the long awaited Sammy Bangoura who only minutes later finsihed a Guinean attack over the wing for the first goal ('79).
Like 2004 and during the qualifiers goalkeeping seemed a problem and almost had punished the Guineans again. After the lead the rest of the defence started to look nervous, too and the possible counter attacks were spoilt by miserable passing.
Anyway one of those attempts finally sealed the match by a fine combination and the second goal through O.Bangoura ('88) one of five players in the squad with the same family name.
South Africas young 'future'-team, spiced with McCarthy, Zuma and Nomvete, should not be judged to harsh after this match. guinea was maybe one of the most unthankful opponents the Bafana could have been pitched against, Südafrika spielte mit seiner jungen 'Zukunfts-'Mannschaft, leaving no room for fast combinations and counter attacks.
Maybe sometimes there weren't enough open players, and also a little practice of set pieces might help: a couple of promising free kick situations were squandered.