COACH Shakes Mashaba says that his Bafana Bafana must start games with more intent and intensity following the 1-1 draw with Cameroon in a pre-Afcon warm-up game at the weekend.

South Africa extended their unbeaten run under Mashaba to nine matches by showing great character to come back from behind in the encounter in Gabon on Saturday night.

Bafana fell behind in the sixth minute to a Vincent Aboubakar free-kick after some cowardly and naïve defending.

But the Bafana bench once again came up with the goods as substitute Sibusiso Vilakazi’s superb solo effort in the second half gave SA a share of the spoils.

Mashaba managed to praise his side’s spirit, but was unhappy with their slow start and wasteful finishing.

Bra Shakes says: “The boys did very well. But we need to work on the first 20 minutes of the game – we were fast asleep!

“It was a good thing to come back from 1-0 down and make it 1-1.

“And we still had three or four chances to come back and win it. But we will use this week to sort that out.”

Mashaba was also concerned with how his players “chickened out” of challenges with the Indomitable Lions, with a physically-imposing Mali side lying in wait for their final warm-up match this Wednesday (8pm).

Chickening

He adds: “We have to compete, especially physically. You saw in the game, some of the boys were chickening out in challenges.”

The Bafana mentor also reckons his side looked good on the ball, yet still need to work on the converting in the final third to finish off their build-up play.

“We looked smart in possession, but we need to work on our finishing,” Mashaba concedes.

“We know what to expect. We still need to work on a few combinations.

“Our last game will be a true test, and an eye- opener.”

Skipper Dean Furman was less scathing and believes it was a good test for his side to come through ahead of their Afcon opener against the continent’s top-ranked Algeria next Monday (9pm).

The midfield general says: “It was a good test, against a good side.

“We got off to the worst possible start, but came back fighting, and it was a good test of character.

“We kept fighting, and this gives us confidence going forward.”

Matthew Marcus

Bafana must skrik wakker