Polokwane - Bafana Bafana were brought back to earth with a huge bump when a fired-up Chile ended their five-match winning streak by securing a 2-0 victory at a packed Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Wednesday night.
Chile gave Bafana head coach Joel Santana and his players a rude awakening and showed that Santana has a lot of hard work ahead in the next four months as he prepares Bafana to compete against Spain, New Zealand and Iraq in the Confederation Cup which kicks off in June.
Santana said before the game that Chile would be a good test for his charges. They were by far the best side that Bafana has played since Bafana were beaten 1-0 by Nigeria to end Bafana's African Nations Cup dream last September.
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It is easy playing against second and third rate teams from Ghana, Malawi and Zambia but Bafana failed this test horribly against a top quality side that is ranked 30th and gave Bafana a soccer lesson.
Bafana were given a run around for most of the first 45 minutes. Apart from a few clever moves from midfielder Teko Modise, the home side were on the back foot for most of the half.
But it took until injury time of the opening half for Chile to score when South African born left wing Mark Gonzalez whipped in a great cross which was half cleared and landed at the foot of Jorge Valdivia who sent in a stunning rocket that gave keeper Calvin Marlin no chance.
Chile used both wings Gonzalez and Alexis Sanchez to great effect. Marlin was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers. Chile impressed by their attacking approach and the way they were able to switch play and confuse the home side defence.
Chile started off aggressively and made their intentions clear from the kick-off when Turkish based Rodrigo Tello's shot was blocked after five minutes.
Bafana won a free kick 30m out and Modise effort went straight to keeper Claudio Bravo in the 13th minute.
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