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“Bafana threw everything forward near the end but the defence of Iceland, a country that would fit into Soweto and with just 350 000 people, held firm.”

Bafana Bafana Team Showed Some Improvement

On Tuesday night the 2010 World Cup hosts suffered a 1-0 defeat to Iceland at Laugardalsvollur.

Although the Bafana Bafana team showed glimpses of improvement throughout the match; they started off well, attacking and passing the ball with intent.

Changed Starting Line-Up

Santana bowed to pressure and named a much changed line-up to the side who lost in Norway with Franklyn Cale, Sthembiso Ngcobo, Richard Henyekane and Siyabonga Sangweni all getting starts. Iceland, who are ranked a lowly 96th in the world, scored in the 50th minute through Veigar Pall Gunnarsson.

Henyekane and Modise More Lively

Richard Henyekane and Teko Modise were certainly livelier last night and  created some problems for Iceland’s defence.

Moeneeb Josephs played a great game until five minutes after half time when Gunnarsson bent a shot with the outside of his foot on the edge of the box after Mokoena failed to clear properly and goalkeeper Josephs got caught going the wrong way.

Six Changes in the Second Half

A desperate Joel Santana made six changes in the second half, but Bafana’s  left their shooting boots at home, with Teko Modise missing two good chances in the second half

I like this quote from kickoff.com: “Bafana threw everything forward near the end but the defence of Iceland, a country that would fit into Soweto and with just 350 000 people, held firm.”

Speculation over Santana’s Fate Continues

Bafana Bafana’s 1-0 loss to Iceland follows their 1-0 loss to Norway on Saturday and means that speculation over an imminent chop for coach Joel Santana will continue, even though Safa made their voice heard before the match to try and put a lid on the the growing discussion over a possible sacking and the replacements for coach Joel Santana.

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