Lyle Foster scores winner as Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana beat Democratic Republic of Congo

Lyle Foster scores winner as Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana beat Democratic Republic of Congo.

Lyle Foster scored Bafana Bafana’s only goal as they beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 in an international friendly at a freezing Orlando stadium on Tuesday night.

It was a victory that allowed Bafana to return to winning ways after drawing against Namibia on the same ground last Saturday.

And while Foster scored his fourth international goal to continue his club form, Bafana are now unbeaten in their last nine games in all competitions.

This bodes well for coach Hugo Broos ahead of World Cup qualifying in November and the Africa Cup of Nations finals in January.

But before these matches, Bafana will play two more home friendlies against Eswatini and Afcon will host Ivory Coast next month.

But after recording another poor fan reaction this evening after last Saturday, Broos hopes he can do better to attract more fans to the stadium in the future.

Tonight’s comeback was even disappointing as Bafana appeared to be the away team as the visitors’ partisan fans dominated.

But even though the visitors had the 12th player on their side, their players still faced difficult tasks: scoring goals and ultimately achieving victory.

And that wasn’t supposed to happen. It looked, however, as if they would find the opening goal when Chadrack Akolo tested the waters first, hitting a timid shot which Ricard Goss handled comfortably.

Goss’ comfortable start boded well for him, as he was taking over from captain Ronwen Williams who was reportedly unwell.

And while Goss did well to demonstrate why he deserved to leapfrog Veli Mothwa in the pecking order early on, his nerves were completely calmed after Bafana took the lead.

Foster let loose with the crucial goal of the first half, keeping his words of wanting to make the stadium he knows well his hunting ground.

The former Orlando Pirates striker lashed home a loose ball inside the ball to take his tally to three goals in as many games for Bafana on this pitch.

And that was the perfect homecoming for him, as he is in familiar surroundings and cut his football teeth here, while his parents’ house is just 2km away.

Foster’s goal was the only difference between the two teams in the first half, but Bafana should have scored more if Bathusi Aubaas had completed a team move.

And even though Bafana were ahead in the second half, they still had to work hard to double their numbers as the visitors’ support multiplied.

Congo were unlucky as the lead didn’t count early on when Goss came to his team’s rescue and made a double save to preserve Bafana’s lead.

Aubaas had a chance late in the match to double his team’s tally and possibly get the winning goal, but his hard, low shot was saved by Lionel Mpasi.

And so it ended with Foster remaining Bafana’s point man, something that will please Broos ahead of the World Cup qualifiers and Afcon final.