A disappointed and dumbfounded Scorpions’ Coach Sang Ndong has admitted that his side was outclassed by South Africa. Sang, who was lost for words in explaining the demoralising 4-0 defeat to Bafana Bafaba in the AFCON qualifiers on Saturday was speaking in a post-match press conference at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.
“We are all disappointed and I think the result and performance were all poor; so we just have to get the positive out of the negativity,” he began, before adding that they were dominated and outplayed by the visitors.
“We played against a superior team but we could have done better.
However, our objective is to rebuild, rebrand and try to reintegrate the national team back to the public.”
He added that the game had helped him to see more local based players and some foreign-based players mixed together. Some of the players, he added, could not join the team “because they were injured”; and these were the likes of Modou Barrow, Pa Amat Dibba and Demba Savage. “For Yusupha Njie, he had a commitment with his team FUS de Rabat in Morocco.”
He pleaded with Gambians to accept the defeat and concentrate on the objectives of building a team for the country.
Captain Omar Colley was equally not happy with the outcome of the game.
Coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba of the Bafana Bafana said it was an important game for his side and the win was something very timely.
He commended the fans for turning up in numbers to watch the game. “It was a good game; we started on a very low key because at some stages the Gambian team was invading our goal area often. But after some minutes we started getting our footing right and it became worse [for the Scorpions] when we scored our first goal,” he told the local press.
The Bafana Bafana’s performance on Saturday, according to Mashaba, was a response to the drab goalless draw in the first leg in South Africa.
“My boys played very well and that is why we were very confident that it was going to be a good game.”
Man of the match, Keagan Dolly, who is a member of the South African U-23 team and was playing only his second game for the senior team, said he was happy to have scored two fantastic goals.
The lad, who helped South Africa qualify for next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro last year said he is always happy to be representing his country.
by Alieu Ceesay