Bafana Bafana‘s CHAN squad head coach Molefi Ntseki has expressed disappointment following their narrow loss to Malawi in the first leg qualifier away from home.
Molefi’s charges went down 1-0 at the Republic Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday after conceding in the 88th minute.
Even though he took time to congratulate the hosts, the former Kaizer Chiefs coach also urged his troops to put out all stops in the second leg in order to seal progression.
“Congratulations to Malawi. They were playing at home. Very much under pressure to win,” Ntseki told the media.
“When you look at the supporters that came to support the team, they were expecting something from the team.
“We think we did vewry well in terms of keeping them at bay until that late critical phase mistake of allowing a corner and then we failed to defend the corner.
“But, on the balance of play, I think it was a very interesting match. It was more of a two and flow type of a game. But you can tell these are the players that are playing regularly. These are the players that some of them are playing in the national team.
“I’m saying this because of the resilience you could see. The belief and the confidence and they kept on pushing and pushing, and pushing.
“That was more of a mental game than a tactical game on the side of Malawi because they believed, they kept on pushing, pushing until something happens.
“So, for that, we congratulate the team to have won the first leg.”
“So, from our side I think we did very well when you look at none of the players we had today are playing regularly in their teams.
“So, you can tell those critical phases of the game, the concentration levels dropped a bit and as a result, we ended up giving the goal.
“But I think credit must be given to the players with the effort they had to put in this game as difficult as it was. We have to go back home and and then look into how best we can reverse the results at home.
“Hopefully, things works out for us but we are disappointed to have lost the game.”
The return leg will be played at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Tshwane on Sunday, 11 May 2025.