Bafana Bafana were shattered by Les Aigles of Mali in group E encounter.
Mali earned an all important 3 point in their opening game at the on going Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire after a hard-fought 2-0 win over South Africa at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium.
There was a frenetic start to this Group E opener as Amadou Haidara went for the spectacular in a bid to put Mali in front, ultimately seeing his looping volley saved by South African shot-stopper Ronwen Williams.
Bafana Bafana had their own moment down the left flank through Thapelo Maseko, and earned a penalty from the Supersport United man’s cross when Sikou Niakaté appeared to elbow Evidence Makgopa in the box.
However, Percy Tau then stepped up and sent a truly abysmal spot-kick, which would not have looked out of place in a Springboks match, into orbit. He looked on in sheer belief, but quickly had a chance for redemption.
The Al Ahly man superbly picked out by Sphephelo Sithole, but fired his resulting effort straight at Diarra.
Mali were almost gifted an opener seconds before HT following a horrible mix-up between Siyanda Xulu and Williams, but Lassine Sinayoko could not take advantage of the situation .
Éric Chelle’s Men then squandered another golden opportunity to break the deadlock after the restart, with Haidara blazing his close-range attempt over the bar following some good link-up play involving Falaye Sacko and Sékou Koïta.
The Eagles finally had lift-off on the hour mark, though, when Koita’s free-kick hit the underside of the bar and skipper Hamari Traoré reacted quickest to pounce and kick the ball home.
The second goal came by six minutes later courtesy of Sinayoko, who outmuscled Xulu and dispatched a clinical finish past Williams from Kamory Doumbia’s perfectly weighted through ball to seal Mali’s victory.
South Africa pressed forward in their attempts to engineer a way back into the contest, but eventually lacked the quality to truly trouble Diarra in goal as they drew blank in Korhogo.
Meanwhile, this was a morale-boosting victory for a Mali side who will be looking to end their ill record of playing the most AFCON matches (55) without winning the tournament.
Up next for the Eagles is a game against Tunisia on 20th of January who surprisingly lost to Namibia earlier while Bafana Bafana will be up against Namibia on the 21st.
And they will have in mind that Namibia created a major upset in their first game when against all odds defeated Tunisia for their first AFCON victory.
South Africa will have to aim for the maximum 3 point in that encounter to give hope to their chances of qualifications into the next round.
