South Africa beats Zimbabwe and saves Nigeria's pride

South Africa was better throughout the entire game and, even though Zimbabwe managed to equalize shortly, kept their patience and deservedly emerged victoriuos - 3-1. Iqraam Rayneers scored the first goal and had two more chances in the first half, and Hugo Broos' golden substitute, Thapelo Morena, scored a brace in the second half to seal the home team's win. Tawanda Chirewa was by far the best Warriors' player and the only scorer for the away team.

Prior to the game, South Africa was a favourite, given that Zimbabwe was in the last spot in Group C of the African qualifiers. Bafana Bafana needed the victory to equalize with the group leader, Benin. On the other hand, Zimbabwe's surprising triumph could have moved them to the fifth place and, believe it or not, send Nigeria to the bottom of the group!

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The game hasn't even properly started, and we have already got two goals. Namely, both teams' defences seemed a bit sleepy at the beginning, and the attacks used that. Only 30 seconds into the game, Zimbabwe's Munashe Garananga carelessly lost the ball near the box and Iqraam Rayneers accepted the gift and gave South Africa the lead. However, just 40 seconds later, Wolverhampton's Tawanda Chirewa showed why he is a member of the English Premier League side. He rushed into the box from the right flank and found the net with the outside of the foot.

After that goal, the rhythm slowed, but the home team still controlled the game, whereas Zimbabwe relied on counter-attacks. It seemed that the mistake Garananga made left a big impact on him since he was very insecure with the ball during the first half an hour. First-goal scorer, Rayneers, had two excellent chances, but both times his shots went far wide of the post.

In the 36th minute, Chirewa once again proved his quality, shot from the right edge of the box, but South Africa captain Ronwen Williams made a skilful save. A minute later, Rayneers scored another goal, but it was disallowed because Bafana Bafana's forward was offside. In the last five minutes of the first half, both teams had one chance each. The Zimbabwean defence blocked Mothobi Mvala's shot, while Williams managed to save another Chirewa's strike in the last minute of the first period.

The 55th minute brought the second goal for the home team. Oswin Appollis crossed the ball into the box, the Warriors' goalkeeper Geofrey Chitsumba deflected it, thus Thapelo Morena, who had entered the game right after the break, easily scored his first goal for Bafana Bafana. That goal immediately changed the pace of the match since the home team had a satisfactory result and the Warriors seemed to have become disheartened. Twenty minutes later, Morena scored his second goal of the game in a one-on-one situation and properly thanked South Africa manager Hugo Broos for giving him the opportunity. After that goal, the rhythm dropped, and the home team calmly brought the game to an end.

Thanks to this victory, Bafana Bafana moved to the second spot in the group, with the same number of points as Benin and Rwanda, while Zimbabwe remained last and practically lost all chance to qualify for the World Cup. South Africa, on the other hand, now is in an excellent position and justifiably hopes for participation in their first World Cup ever since 2010 when they were hosts.

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS - AFRICA

Tuesday

Kenya-Ivory Coast 0-0

Madagascar-Mali 0-0

Mauritius-Eswatini 2-1 (2-0)

/Gaspard 19, Rose 45 - Magagula 66/

South Sudan-Sudan 0-3 (0-1)

/Khidir 45+3, Mohamed 51, Abdel Raman 78)

Cape Verde-Libya 1-0 (1-0)

/Borges 10/

Chad-Comoros 0-2 (0-0)

/Maolida 59, El Fardou Ben 76/

Lesotho-Rwanda 0-1 (0-1)

/Kwizera 45/

South Africa-Zimbabwe 3-1 (1-1)

/Rayners 1, Morena 55, 76 - Chirewa 2/

Zambia-Tanzania 0-1 (0-1)

/Waziri 5/

Angola-Cameroon 0-1 HT

/Mbeumo 11/

Congo-Morocco 0-4 HT

/Ounahi 8, Riad 16, El Kaabi 20, 39/

Gabon-Gambia 0-1 HT

/Minteh 33/

Seychelles-Burundi 0-1 HT

/Sudi 34/