Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos believes that the injury of Themba Zwane in the early stages of the match contributed to their failure to collect all three points against Congo Brazzaville on Tuesday.
South Africa had to share the spoils with Congo after the match ended 1-1, Elias Mokwana opened the scoring following a blunder from the goalkeeper and Mons Bassouamina equalized for the visitors in first-half stoppage.
Broos was forced to make an early substitution in the 40th minute when Zwane was injured and could not continue with the match, Orlando Pirates’ Patrick Maswanganyi had to come in as a replacement.
Zwane recently earned his 50th national team in Bafana’s 5-0 win against Congo on Friday and had been an important part of Broos’ set-up. He was with the squad that brought home a bronze medal in the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations.
“Themba Zwane is a very important player for us. It was not a good thing for us that Themba had to go out with an injury,” Broos said.
“It is a big injury, it is an Achilles tendon injury. I’m afraid he will be out for months. So, again, when you lose such an important player, it’s difficult, certainly in a game where you dominated.
“It’s always difficult to lose such a player because Themba is someone who can keep the ball, who can give the last pass. So, he was not there and maybe that was also a reason why we didn’t play so well.”
Bafana will travel to Uganda which is currently top of Group K in November to continue with the qualifiers. The pair played a thrilling 2-2 draw in September.