South Africa beat Guinea 2-1 in a tough, must-win Group C fixture at the Mandela National Stadium in Kampala, Uganda, on Monday night, securing all three points.

Bloemfontein-born-and-bred captain, Neo Maema, opened the scoring in the 10th minute, but Guinea hit back through Moussa Moise Camara seven minutes before half-time. The equaliser gave the West Africans plenty of confidence, and they came out firing in the second half, which turned into a rather physical encounter.

Bafana Bafana celebrating the Thabiso Kutumela winner. Photo: SAFA/Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

However, just as in the first half, it took South Africa only nine minutes after the restart to hit the front again. Thabiso Kutumela netted the winner in the 54th minute, and from there it was all about holding on to protect their lead.

Despite a spirited fightback from Guinea, they could not breach the South African defence again, suffering back-to-back defeats in the tournament.

Botshabelo-born Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki acknowledged that his team had been pushed to the limit throughout the match.

“You can tell how difficult it was, but at the end of the day, Guinea played the game and we scored the goals,” said Ntseki.

“What was important for us was to get the goals and win. We’re very pleased with the result, but there’s still a lot of work to do before the next match.

“After our opening goal – which was a beautiful goal and worked exactly as planned – Guinea came at us. I think our recovery period was a bit short, especially after the intensity of the last game. Guinea also played on the same day (Friday), and they lost 3-0. We’ll need to assess our physical readiness more closely going forward.”

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Looking ahead to their clash with Niger on Friday, Ntseki said the focus would be on recovery to ensure the team is in peak condition for another must-win match.

“Our physical conditioning coach and medical team will work on the players so that they’re fresher and more focused. Guinea really made us run – defensively we covered more than 12 kilometres as a team.”

The win lifted South Africa to third in the group. Later that evening, co-hosts Uganda went top after beating Niger 2-0. However, Uganda have now played three matches, while South Africa still have one game in hand.

Bafana Bafana will face Niger at the Mandela National Stadium on Friday at 16:00.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cvs