South Africa coach Mashaba: We must beat Ghana

South Africa coach Shakes Mashaba admits his side will have to beat Ghana if they are to stand a chance of progressing to the AFCON quarterfinals.

Bafana Bafana claimed the lead against Senegal on Friday evening, after Oupa Manyisa had fired into the bottom-right corner at the start of the second half.

However, Senegal managed to draw level on the hour mark as centre-back Kara Mbodji got above his marker to send a towering header into the back of the net.

It was South Africa who created most of the chances, though, with a lack of cutting edge in front of goal ultimately proving costly.

The result leaves Mashaba’s men facing an uphill battle as they will have to beat Ghana to keep themselves in the hunt for second place in Group C.

Reflecting on what was ultimately a disappointing result, Mashaba said: “Again, we created more chances than the opposition, we should have won the game, but we are still in with a chance.

“If you look at all the teams’ standings on the log, it’s a must win our game against Ghana.

“The toughest thing will be the margin, it should be no less than three goals, maybe that other team loses and we win, that puts us on four points, but it’s going to be important for us to win that game.”

Mashaba, meanwhile, admitted that his side’s profligacy in front of goal was a concern.

He added: “We are the team that has created more chances, but converted a few. We should have scored no less than six goals in both matches.

“The question of scoring, it’s about finishing, especially from the second ball. How many chances did we have? But we still wanted to go behind the defenders. It’s a concern.”