Bathusi Aubaas of South Africa and Taddeo Lwanga of Uganda during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium, Kampala, Uganda yesterday. BackpagePix
Bafana Bafana leapt to the top of their Africa Cup of Nations group with a 2-0 win over Uganda at the Mandela National Stadium on Friday.
Two second half goals by second half substitutes Thapelo Morena and Patrick Maswanganyi saw the South African national team silence the hosts and overtake them to take first place in group K.
Morena appeared to be an inspired substitution for Broos at half time and opened the scoring within four minutes of his introduction
The Mamelodi Sundowns winger scored his third goal of the AFCON qualifiers as he benefitted of incredible pressing by teammate Bathusi Aubaas and he pounced inside the box and found the top corner with a clean finish.
Maswanganyi killed off the match in the 89th minute as he collected an Iqraam Rayners cross and finished smartly.
With both teams learning they had already qualified for next year’s showpiece in Morocco, questions were posed around whether the intensity would be to the required level.
The absence of veteran midfield maestro Themba Zwane was very evident in the opening stanza as the visitors struggled to create any memorable clear chances.
The only positive in what was a tightly contested first half was Bafana’s ability to execute their pressing strategies all around the pitch but lacked the necessary precision to finish off those situations.
It was clear the match was never gonna be played at walking pace as both teams went into challenges with robustness, leading to several medical stoppages in the opening stanza.
Elias Mokwana was deemed to not be effective enough on the right flank and it was no surprise when he made way for goalscorer Morena at the break.
Having capitalised off poor work by Uganda’s defenders, Bafan’s last line almost gifted the hosts a goal on the other end with Rushwin’Dortley guilty of the error.
The Kaizer Chiefs centre back chose to play a back pass with his head that lacked the necessary power to reach Williams and luckily for him Denis Omedi shot wide with just the keeper to beat.
For a considerable period of the game, although they headed into the match top of the standings, Uganda seemingly could not touch Bafana in terms of quality with their desire never in question.
Many would’ve expected Orlando Pirates Patrict Maswanganyi to be the one to step into the shoes of Zwane and there it made sense when he came on in the final 20 minutes alongside Iqraam Rayners and Fawaaz Basadien.
The trio came on for an ineffective Evidence Makgopa, who appeared in the nation team shirt for the first time in a long time as well as Le Roux and Aubrey Modiba.
Ten minutes later Rayners would get his chance to keep his club form going when Uganda goalkeeper Ismael Wateng gifted him the ball while trying to clear but his snapshot went wide with a gaping goal in front of him.
Bafana will look to make it two wins on the trot close off their campaign when they play South Sudan in Cape Town on Tuesday.