WC Qualifier: South Africa manager's Dolly omission proves costly

Bafana Bafana would surely have been better off with Kaizer Chiefs forward Keagan Dolly in the starting XI for the World Cup qualifier against Ghana, rather than out of it.

When he was finally introduced into the action, in the 70th minute, it took Dolly just moments to make an impact as he slipped Percy Tau in on goal, the Al Ahly striker then having a penalty appeal turned down after being bumped by a Ghana defender.

Tau never really showed any signs of being on top of his game and was largely kept under wraps by the Black Stars defence. Just recently come back from injury the former Mamelodi Sundowns attacker was starting to find his feet for new club side Al Ahly.

Dolly on the other hand has been in scintillating form for Kaizer Chiefs over the past couple of months.

If not for Tau, Dolly could also have started in place of either Victor Letsoalo or Bongokuhle Hlongwane, although to be fair to the latter, he has been playing well. Letsoalo though missed the Zimbabwe game through suspension and was fortunate to start ahead of Dolly.

The Amakhosi star did, after all, prove to be the difference when South Africa beat Zimbabwe 1-0 on Thursday - it was the former Sundowns and Ajax Cape Town winger's pin-point cross which led to Teboho Mokoena scoring the only goal of the match at the FNB Stadium.

In what was always going to be a tight game in Ghana, Dolly's ability - as he has been doing all season for Chiefs - to produce a moment of match-winning magic, should have been fully taken advantage of, and not confined to a 20-minute cameo.

Full of confidence and positive energy at the moment, Dolly currently brings more than just goals and assists to whichever side he plays for; he brings self-belief and a sense of purpose and confidence. He hets his side on the front foot and Bafana lacked that on Sunday.

Inexperience catches up

While South Africa lacked composure and a cutting edge up front against the Black Stars, the defeat could also be attributed to other factors.

This included some very shaky defending, in particular in the first half, with Rushine De Reuck the main culprit.

Still very new at international level, De Reuck was caught out on a number of occasions before giving the penalty away. Replays suggest the penalty call was a very harsh one, maybe incorrect. But he could have kept his hands down, and he was also fortunate not to have been punished earlier in the game.

It wasn’t only De Reuck though - as a group, Bafana came up short on Big Match Temperament in the heat of the Cape Coast. That wasn't overly surprising when considering that this is a young and very inexperienced Bafana side which coach Hugo Broos has assembled.

Despite the elimination, there should, however, be reasons to be optimistic about what this group can achieve.