Bafana Bafana saw far less of the ball than ‘Los Ticos’ and spent most of the game camped in their own half, but still managed to create the better scoring opportunities and won the game against a team placed 31 positions higher on Fifa’s world rankings, thanks to Andile Jali’s early strike.
Itumeleng Khune, who was guilty of a major error which gifted a goal to Mauritania in South Africa’s 3-1 loss in an Afcon qualifier last month, handed Costa Rica a scoring opportunity in the third minute with a poor piece of distribution, but he quickly redeemed himself by saving the shot from from Joel Campbell.
After that early scare, Bafana settled down well and opened the scoring nine minutes into the match, with Andile Jali winning the ball in midfield before playing a one-two with Thulani Serero and chipping the ball past goalkeeper Keylor Navas for the second international goal of his career.
In the absence of a recognised striker (Tokelo Rantie, Prince Nxumalo and Thamsanqa Gabuza were all ruled out of the match for various reasons), Sibusiso Vilakazi played as the visitors’ spearhead in attack. Vilakazi is not a natural centre-forward, but he battled gamely and was ably supported by the willingness of Mandla Masango, George Lebese and Jali to run beyond him when in possession.
