Warriors coach Norman Mapeza was happy with his charges’ performance despite losing 0-1 to Bafana Bafana in a CAF 2022 World Cup qualifier played on Thursday night at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The win extended South Africa’s lead in Group G after Ghana dropped points in a 1-1 draw with Ethiopia earlier on Thursday.
The Warriors are now a massive 12 points adrift of Bafana Bafana, having lost four World Cup qualifiers on the bounce, a record on its own.
But Mapeza believes the Warriors are heading in the right direction as far as rebuilding the national team is concerned. He said:
It’s unfortunate the team ended on a losing note but I am proud of my boys. They played so well and we could have scored on two or three occasions but at the end of the day, it’s about getting goals.
It was a good match for my boys but we were unfortunate not to have scored on some of those occasions. We are in the right direction as far as rebuilding is concerned.
We gave an opportunity to an 18-year-old (Bill Antonio), we will continue doing that.
I am happy with the way we expressed ourselves.
It’s a game of football and we picked a lot of positives, at the end of the day.
The only goal of the match came via a Tebogo Mokoena header from Keagan Dolly’s cross in the 26th minute.
Meanwhile, the South Africans have won their last four matches, in the qualifiers, and now need just a draw, in their final match in Ghana on Sunday, to make the final round of qualifying matches.