Gernot Rohr offers expert insight into Bafana Bafana’s shortcomings

Benin head coach Gernot Rohr has offered valuable insights into Bafana Bafana’s weaknesses following the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers opener in Durban.

Hugo Broos’ troops secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Benin in their opening match of the World Cup qualifiers at the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Following their defeat, Benin found themselves at the bottom of the Group C standings, while the 1996 AFCON champions, SA, ascended to the top of the table.

Rohr is of the view that South Africa are weak if they are under attack and when the opponent’s pressing is very good.

GERNOT ROHR SAYS SA ARE WEAK WHEN THEY ARE UNDER ATTACK AND PRESSED

“We saw that South Africa can have some problems if you take them in good pressing,” said Rohr.

“We changed one player and we changed the tactic in the midfield. We played one-against-one to take the number 11 [Themba Zwane], number 13 [Sphephelo Sithole], and number 4 [Teboho Mokoena] who played freely.

“That’s what we did, we took them man-to-man and they could not play like in the first half. That was the change in what we did and also more pressing forward.”

ROHR SAYS DEFEAT AGAINST BAFANA WASN’T A TRUE REFLECTION OF THE RESULT

Rohr further believes the 2-1 defeat they suffered was not the true reflection of the result.

“We tried to get back to the game and the reaction in the second half was good. We played much better in the second half, I think it was not far away from a draw,” he added.

For Benin, it’s back to the drawing board as they will be aiming to get back to winning ways in the World Cup qualifiers. They take on Lesotho on Tuesday at Moses Mabhida Stadium. Kickoff is at 15:00.

Meanwhile, Bafana will tackle Rwanda away from home on Tuesday [15:00].

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