Why Bafana Bafana struggle to beat Nigeria by Adelani Ogunrinade….
Nigeria and South Africa have met ten times at full international level since their first meeting in 1992 when South Africa were readmitted back into international football. The Super eagles have won ten of these matches and drawn two games and only lost once to Bafana Bafana.
The last time South Africa defeated Nigeria was nearly 10 years ago in the Nelson Mandela challenge on the 17th of November 2004.A full-strength Bafana Bafana team – under the tutelage of Stuart Baxter – lined up against an understrength Super Eagles side.
Since then South Africa has lost and not found that winning formula against the West African giants-although they have been close on a few occasions.
Before the recent encounter between the two teams in a Nation’s Cup qualifier, supporters of the Super eagles of Nigeria were starting to believe their team can defeat Bafana Bafana with all their eyes closed but were stunned to silence when they had to come from two goals down to draw 2-2 with South Africa in Uyo. South Africa let a one-goal advantage slip three minutes into added-time.
So, why does South Africa keep struggling to break this ‘Nigeria Jinx’?
In the words of Alex Karras: “toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.”
Despite Nigeria having the physical edge over South Africa, the last match between the two teams showed the power of courageous minds. Bafana Bafana have simply not believed that they are capable of defeating the Super eagles. In recent times when they have believed, they have not had the talent to match their ambition.
For the first time in many years, South Africa have a cluster of talented players who believe in their abilities and are committed to achieving greatness. The recent reason behind their inability to defeat the super eagles was simply a lack of experience. This time around, the South Africans were closer than ever but still failed to clip the eagles wing’s (yet again)