Puso Dithejane’s 51st-minute strike secured a 1-0 friendly win for South Africa over Egypt in Cairo on Sunday, handing coach Pitso Mosimane his third victory in as many games since being reappointed, according to the match report.
Mosimane, who previously led Bafana Bafana from 2010-2012, was officially reappointed on Sept. 1 to succeed Hugo Broos after the World Cup. He had kept largely the same side in two competitive AFCON qualifying wins — a 2-1 home victory over Guinea and a 5-0 win over Eritrea in Cairo — before making sweeping changes for the friendly, the report said.
Only centre-back Ime Okon and midfielder Sphephelo Sithole retained their starting spots from the Eritrea game, and both were among eight starters substituted at some point against Egypt. Regular captain Ronwen Williams was replaced in goal by Sipho Chaine, who was later substituted for Ricardo Goss; both Chaine and Goss produced important saves to preserve the clean sheet against an attack missing Mohamed Salah but featuring Tottenham’s Omar Marmoush.
Egypt threatened early: Marmoush flashed a low shot wide in the ninth minute and Mohamed Hany forced an effort narrowly over shortly after. Mostafa Ziko should have opened the scoring in the 35th when he shot straight at Chaine after an Ibrahim Adel cross. Bafana’s fullbacks, Mamelodi Sundowns duo Fawaaz Basadien and Thabang Matuludi, caused problems for the hosts, with a 38th-minute sequence seeing Basadien set up Luther Singh for a chance that Matuludi narrowly missed.
Dithejane broke the deadlock six minutes into the second half, running on to a long ball from Shandre Campbell, rounding goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir and centre-back Hossam Abdelmaguid before tapping home. Egypt produced several late chances: Goss made point-blank saves from headers by Hamza Abdelkarim in the 72nd minute and Osama Faisal deep into stoppage time, with Adel’s follow-up from the latter strike rebounding off the crossbar.
The Pharaohs could argue for a penalty in the 75th when Matuludi appeared to catch Faisal with a sliding challenge, but Algerian referee Nabil Boukhalfa did not award one. The report noted Mosimane’s prior success in African club competition — including two CAF Champions League titles with Al Ahly and an earlier triumph with Mamelodi Sundowns — and described the international break as a successful return that leaves South Africa in contention ahead of next year’s AFCON.
