Igesund optimistic despite Zambia loss

Bafana Bafana head coach, Gordon Igesund, has reiterated that it is still too early for the national team to be expected to produce the desired results, following the 1-0 loss to the African champions, Zambia on Wednesday night.

According to Igesund, the fact that the team has only been together for a short while has contributed vastly to the recent fluctuating results, but he stated that the main focus now shifts to the 2012 CAF African Cup of Nations in January next year.

“I am not too unhappy with the way we played in certain situations. The difference between the two teams was that they are a team; they’ve been together for about three years or so while we’ve been together for three months, five games and eight training sessions.

“We know what we have to do; we know where we have to go to and we also know that our first (AFCON) game is on the 19th of January. If I can get the players together by the 1st of January it will give me good leverage to work with them,” said Igesund.

In Wednesday’s match, Bafana Bafana managed to hold off the pressure from the Chipolopolo for just about three-quarters of the game, but succumbed in the 64th minute when Orlando Pirates striker and Zambian international, Collins Mbesuma, struck a powerful shot that beat Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune, to rattle the net.

With their well-deserved lead in hand, the Zambians were effectively able to contain the South Africans up until the dying minutes of the match, when striker Kermit Erasmus almost found the equaliser but was denied by Zambian goal-stopper, Kennedy Mweene.

Bafana Bafana will now look forward to playing Norway in Cape Town on January 8, next year, which is 11 days before the AFCON 2013 opening match against Cape
Verde Islands.