Veteran PSL coach Muhsin Ertugral critiqued Bafana Bafana’s mental struggles and mindset following their 2-1 loss to Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations, highlighting the lack of aggressive response under pressure compared to past South African football greats. Picture: Backpagepix Veteran PSL coachMuhsin Ertugralhas suggested thatBafana Bafanamay not have been up for the challenge from a mindset point of view, following their2-1 losstoCameroonto crash out of theAfrica Cup of Nations(Afcon) on Sunday. Once again, defensive errors proved costly forBafanaat Agdal Medina Stadium, in Rabat, on Sunday.
Bafana dominated the first 20 minutes and had Cameroon on the ropes, but had nothing to show for it when their opposition began to work their way into the match. Once Cameroon took the lead just after the half-hour mark, the Bafana players seemed to drop their heads once they fell behind, explained Ertugral. “It is the way of, let me say, the team from the psychological point of view,” Ertugral toldSportsBoom.co.za.
“I was just speaking to a friend of mine about it. The point here in South Africa is that you could see [Teboho] Mokwena is the one that pulls the socks up, puts the arms up and will fight into it. You could see from the moment when Cameroon was leading, they were very aggressive.
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You could see Cameroon was up to it to defend their lead.” “So, this is a pressure situation that, for me, is always a concern that when it comes under pressure that the other characters come out.” Ertugral went on to suggest the biggest difference between the current squad and some of the greats of SA football was simply their mental approach. “I remember, I was just saying, we don’t have these Benny McCarthys, we don’t have these players such as your Steven Piënaars and Doctor Khumalos. “Players that say, ‘okay, the sleeves come up now and even if they’re better than us, we’re going to put up with them and put the light on a little bit more on the aggressiveness. So, (last night with Bafana Bafana), that didn’t happen.”
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