Johannesburg – South Africa's 2-1 victory over Kenya on Tuesday proved the team was making strides in the build-up to next year's Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament, according to Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund.
Tokelo Rantie scored in the 20th minute to put the tourists ahead in their international friendly in Nairobi, and while Kenya hit back with a second-half penalty through captain Dennis Oliechi, the South Africans were saved by an own goal from Christopher Wekesa with 14 minutes left in the match.
“It was a very difficult win for us, and the pitch was not that playable, but it's in such conditions that will help us mentally,” Igesund said after picking up his first away win in charge of the national team.
“We played the percentage game and the not the beautiful game and we pushed them to make mistakes.
“The boys showed a lot of character. I m not overly excited with the win, but the effort, performance and attitude was great.”
Igesund believed there was still work to do ahead of the continental tournament which will be hosted by South Africa in January and February.
“We are not there yet. We still need to play as a unit,” Igesund said.
“I am just disappointed with the goal we conceded. We should not allow teams to score goals like that.
“But overall it was a good excercise in terms of what we set out to do.
“I would say at the moment we are about 75 percent of where we should be.
“We are taking good strides forward and I was happy with the passion of the players. There are still about five or six players that I want to have a look at and then maybe my squad for Afcon will be complete.” – Sapa