South Africa coach happy after Spain win

South Africa coach happy after Spain win

By Wright Mbongo Nov 22, 2013 12:16 AM GMT

South Africa coach Gordon Igesund says he is happy after his side went against all odds and beat World and European Champions Spain 1-0 on Tuesday in a friendly match in Johannesburg.

Bafana Bafana soured the return of La Roja at the venue where they won their first ever World Cup in 2010 after Kaizer Chiefs striker Bernard Parker scored the decisive goal to register a famous for the Africans.

“I happy for my players for beating a fantastic team like Spain after everybody wrote us off for this match.” Igesund said after the match at the 2010 World Cup final venue, FNB Stadium (Soccer City).

“We planned for them (Spain) perfectly and as a coach it feels great when the hard work put at training pays off in the match day. We closed them down very well and never gave them too much space to play.”

The win over Spain was the first one for Bafana Bafana in history after the Europeans beat them three times in row but Gordon Igesund says a win against Spain should not carry them away as they is a lot of work awaiting them in the near future.

“Beating Spain will always be special because they are the best team in the world, but let us not be carried away as we have plenty of work to do. We still have 2015 African Cup of Nations Qualifiers to look forward to and  also 2018 World to that we are aiming to qualify for” He added, after he failed to guide South Africa to 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.

The league winning coach went on to say that he was pleased the way his team moved the ball around without giving it away easily. “My players played fantastic very well against Spain and I am happy that we didn’t give the ball away easily.

“The players moved around like chess and that is what we must do in our next important matches. If you look at the build up to the game then you will see it was a marvellous play” Concluded the former Orlando Pirates coach.

South Africa will host the African Championship (CHAN) tournament next year January till February when 15 Nations across Africa joining Bafana Bafana that will only use local based players to contest as the tournament doesn’t fall under the FIFA Calendar and clubs in Europe are not obligated to release their players.