ATLANTA, GA — South Africa may have come back from a goal down to salvage a point in a 1-1 against Czechia in Atlanta on Thursday, but head coach Hugo Broos absolutely has to find a way to prevent the team from conceding early.
Goals inside the first quarter of matches have left them with a hill to climb in both of their FIFA World Cup Group A games to date.
Against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in their World Cup opener, the visitors were down after nine minutes, while against Czechia they were only level for six minutes before Michal Sadílek fired the Europeans into the lead.
It’s a trend that South Africa surely must put right in their final group game against South Korea in Monterrey on Thursday if they’re to get the win they surely need to keep them alive in this competition.
“You know that for the first 20 minutes we need to be fully focused because we can’t keep going into games and conceding so early because then we’re chasing the game and on the back foot each time,” captain Ronwen Williams told ESPN.
“It’s not easy at this level, and we know they’re going to make it difficult for us.”
On both occasions, the early goals have come from South Africa’s defensive errors, as Hugo Broos’s once resolute backline came unstuck.
Against Mexico, it was Sphephelo Sithole, caught in possession during the opening exchanges, who was culpable for paving the way for Julián Quiñones‘s opener, while against Czechia, Williams’ defence was caught in utter disarray as the backline were caught off guard from a probing Vladimír Coufal throw-in.
“We analysed Czechia and we knew that the rightback Coufal has such a long throw, so for us not to track the runner is disappointing, especially coming from our mistakes,” Williams reflected.
“It’s these finer details that make the big difference.
“The coach [Hugo Broos] will do the analysis on this game, and he’s going to be stern. We can’t start the next game on the back foot.
“When we conceded early, from our mistakes, we’ll be punished at this level.”
For Williams and forward Oswin Appollis, while South Africa’s slow start was disappointing, Bafana showed enough after the break to suggest that they can see off South Korea in their final group game in Monterrey on Wednesday.
“It’s not nice to start slowly, but I think after the first 15 to 20 minutes, we did get into the game,” Appollis told ESPN, “and you could see the positive mindset going forward.
“We didn’t manage to create a lot of chances, but we’ll work on that in training.”
Mofokeng echoed his sentiment to ESPN: “The first half can sometimes be very difficult because you don’t know your opponents. You don’t know how they’ll play.
“You must remember that this is a very difficult stage, we’re playing against the best teams here.”
For Williams, encouragement comes in the way that Bafana ended the game, with substitute Evidence Makgopa having two decent chances to find the net either side of Teboho Mokoena‘s 83rd-minute penalty equaliser.
“You saw the togetherness today, and the unity that carried us, in the way we ended the game,” Williams concluded. “We were strong, we were powerful, and we could have snatched it at the end.
“It wasn’t to be, but hopefully, we can take this into the next game and start like this.
“I’m proud that the boys finished strong today, and hopefully the way we finished this one will be the way we start the next game.”
Regardless of the result between Mexico and South Korea later on Thursday, South Africa will surely need a win against Korea in their final Group A game in order to avoid a fourth consecutive first round World Cup elimination.
