Bafana beat Niger
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Bafana Bafana got their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Group G qualification campaign off to the perfect start with a 2-0 win over Niger in Nelspruit on Saturday night.
The match at he Mbombela Stadium was played in front of an enthusiastic crowd, who watched on as Katlego Mphela and Bernard Parker provided two sublime finishes to give Pitso Mosimane a winning start in his first competitive fixture since taking over the reins from Carlos Alberto Parreira after the World Cup.
The home side might have been 2-0 up inside the opening few minutes as Mphela and Bongani Khumalo went close.
But the deadlock was broken on 12 minutes as Man of the Match Steven Pienaar won the ball in midfield with an excellent tackle, and then released the pacey Mphela, who took two touches before chipping the ball over Niger goalkeeper Kassaly Daouda.
Bafana continued to press after the goal and were creating chances in abundance, but some good keeping and hesitatnt shooting in front of goal, kept the scoreline down.
They did finally make it 2-0 just before halftime as the excellent Anele Ngcongca provided an inch-perfect cross for Parker to volley home.
Bafana laid siege to the Niger goal in the second half, but spurned numerous more opportunities, had had to settle for the two-goal margin.
"We controlled the game and I am happy with the result which takes us to the top of the table. Anxiety and nervousness in front of goal cost us a wider winning margin," Mosimane said after the match.
Bafana now travel to Freetown to meet Sierra Leone on the weekend of October 8-10.
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