Benin head coach Gernot Rohr has explained how the experience and chemistry of Mamelodi Sundowns players' helped Bafana Bafana defeat Benin in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier clash.
Bafana head coach Hugo Broos fielded as many as seven players from Sundowns in his starting line-up against Benin at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
READ | Broos: The most important thing was the victory
South Africa walked away 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Percy Tau and Khuliso Mudau in either half, taking the 96' Afcon champions to the top of their qualifying group.
Speaking at the post-match press conference after the match, Benin coach Rohr was full of praise the chemistry between Bafana players, particularly those selected from the Africa Football League winners'.
"We tried but the experience and the complicity of the block [of players] from Sundowns, you can see that they know one another very well and we don't have that complicity in our team.
"When you have a block of six or seven players from one big club it's always easiest to play a good collective game, that's what they did, especially in the first half but then we made a change in the first half.
"We had the departure of our defender Olivier Verdon, his brother died so he decide to leave to go back to his family. We prepared all the matches with him and we have to change in the last moment it wasn't easy, and our striker and also out left striker who was sick and could only play in the last five minutes.
"But it should not be an excuse, South Africa was the better team."
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— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) November 18, 2023
ALSO READ | Rohr praises Benin's response against Bafana
Meanwhile, in his press conference minutes after, Broos was reluctant to single out any players from any team.
"But okay it's not only that, I will not tell you that it's because of those players we won the game. We played with eleven players, even 15 because there were some changes. The second half after the injury there were less players from Sundowns and we won the game.
"Whether it's a Sundowns player, Pirates player or a Chippa player, it's not important. To me what is important is that I have a team to win. So, it's not because of them or because of others.
Up next for Bafana is a second qualifier clash against Rwanda to be played on Tuesday in Rwanda. Kick-off is are 15:00 (SA time).
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