Bafana show fight in Ouagadougou draw
Updated | By ANA
An injury time equaliser for Burkina Faso denied South Africa collecting three points from their opening World Cup qualifier in Ouagadougou, as the riveting game on Saturday night ended in a 1-1 draw.

The match was to be a high octane thriller in west Africa and after the two sides had slugged it out, a draw was probably just about a fair result once the dust had settled at the end of an incident-filled 90 minutes.
Although the visiting side looked good on the ball and created some decent chances in the opening stanza, Burkina Faso also showed their class and could well have been ahead at the break if it were not for some superb stops by South African goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.
Bafana had the first chance when the Mpho Makola, who was impressive throughout the first half, sent a 30-yard scorcher just wide of the top corner after a purposeful run.
A poor call by the Moroccan referee – the ball having struck Erick Mathoho’s arm while the Chiefs defender was clearly outside of the box, saw the hosts awarded a penalty in the ninth minute .
But justice was served when Jonathan Pitroipa showed hesitancy in his spot kick, allowing Khune to get down to his right to make a good, although not overly difficult, save.
Six minutes later at the other end of the park, Burkinabe keeper Herve Koffi showed his good reflexes by getting down smartly to palm Hlompho Kekana’s header away from goal.
Khune, though, was being made to work far more frequently than his counterpart. He had to be on his toes to prevent Thabo Matlaba’s intercept from becoming an own-goal, before using his feet superbly to stop Prejuce Nakoulma from heading in.
Makola tested Koffi with a low free kick on 33 minutes, but the final minutes of the first half saw the Stallions on top, Pitroipa coming close with a curling 20-yard effort five minutes before the break.
Having survived the opening half with their goal intact, South Africa should have taken the lead five minutes after the restart, but Eleazar Rodgers – who replaced Thamsanqa Gabuza in the starting XI – watched agonisingly on as his header from Makola’s inch-perfect pass flashed wide.
Khune was again called into action several times, keeping out both Razak Traore and Nakoulma.
But as the game reached the three quarter point, Shakes Mashaba’s team began to pose an increasing threat, with Rodgers spurring a good chance by shooting straight at Koffi before Oupa Manyisa got his angles all wrong after an enticing ball across goal by fellow substitute May Mahlangu.
Mahlangu’s introduction had shown Mashaba’s intent to go and win the game and the Romania-based midfielder was unlucky to see a goal-bound header deflected wide.
But Bafana’s reward was to come from the resultant 80th minute corner when Koffi saved from Rodgers’ header, only for Dean Furman to latch to slam home the ball through a sea of bodies to stun the fervent home crowd.
All the good work looked to have been undone when a needless reckless challenge by Manyisa on Nakoulma saw the Stallions handed their second penalty. This time Alain Traore took the spot kick, but skied his effort way over the bar and into the stands.
It looked as if it was going to be South Africa’s night, but spurred on by the packed stands in Ouagadougou, the Stalllions equalised in the 91st minute when Banou Diawara hooked the ball in after a goal-mouth scramble.
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