South Africa are in their first World Cup since their 2010 home tournament, but hopes aren’t high.
Hugo Broos’ side made it out of their CAF qualifying group, but are on a four-game winless run that continued against Nicaragua.
South Africa, the world’s 60th-ranked side, played the world’s 131st in their last friendly before the World Cup, but the game ended 0-0.
Not only did Lyle Foster miss a penalty, but an admin error went awry.
In the 67th minute Broos made a string of substitutions, but got his maths wrong.
South Africa played on with 12 players due to forgetting to take one off, and the situation then had to be rectified by the referee.
Had South Africa scored, the goal would’ve been ruled out.
Speaking post-match, Broos took aim at Nicaragua.
“It was a very difficult game, against a very, very negative opponent,” he said.
“I don’t know what they came to do here, but it was just defending and kicking the ball in front.
“When you see the last 15 minutes, one after the other was injured, it’s like they played the final of the World Cup.
“That was not the goal today for us; we’d like to have a good opponent who tries to play football, and that was not the case today.
“So a little bit disappointed about the opponent – but I’m happy with the performance of my team.”
On top of the friendly issues, South Africa have also had to deal with administrative ones.
Their take off to the Americas was delayed after the football association [SAFA] failed to adequately prepare the squad’s visas.
SAFA said in a statement: “The matter has now been substantially resolved and the team’s World Cup plans remain firmly on course,”
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