Former Orlando Pirates player Michael Morton criticised Bafana Bafana’s defensive tactics and the exclusion of Oswin Appollis in their disappointing 2-0 World Cup loss to Mexico, calling it the worst performance under coach Hugo Broos. Picture: Yuri CORTEZ / AFP
Image: Yuri CORTEZ / AFP
South Africans woke up on Friday filled with anger and disappointment, and for former Orlando Pirates player Michael Morton, who attended Bafana Bafana’s opening Fifa World Cup match, the disappointment cut even deeper.
Bafana lost 2-0 to hosts Mexico at Estadio Azteca on Thursday, but it was the manner of the defeat that irked Morton the most.
Bafana coach Hugo Broos devised a defensive formation that offered little, if anything, going forward on the night.
Even with Bafana reduced to nine men by the end of the clash, it seemed to distract from the real issue - the team’s tactics.
“That literally couldn’t have gone any worse. Probably the worst performance from Bafana under Hugo Broos, which is just so disappointing given the occasion,” said Morton on Instagram after the game as he walked out of the stadium.
“The most frustrating thing is I just don’t feel like we had a go - to set up 3-5-2, obviously setting up to try and get a point.
“And then when you concede really early from a mistake, your whole game plan is out the window.”
Morton went on to highlight the fact that Oswin Appollis was surprisingly left on the bench and only came on in the 76th minute, when Bafana were already 2-0 down and reduced to 10 men.
“I can imagine everybody at home was just as frustrated. To come all this way, on the biggest stage, with 80,000 people in the stadium and the whole world watching, and we don’t have a go.
“One of our best players, for me, Oswin Appollis, who has been our best player over the last two years, doesn’t start the game. He hardly touches the field.
“That’s probably the most disappointing thing. It’s the hope that kills you. We didn’t really have a full go.”