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By www.safa.net
11 August 2025 – South Africa beat Guinea 2-1 in a fiercely contested African Nations Championship Group C match that Coach Molefi Ntseki likened to a tough day at the office.
Ntseki’s charges had to dig deep to see off a Guinea side that contested every ball and kept the South Africans on their toes for 97 minutes. The South African men’s side were the first to get their name on the stadium scoreboard after Captain Neo Maema led from the front and beat Guinea goalkeeper Ousmane Camara in the 10th minute. The West Africans noticeably raised their game as the first half progressed and they were rewarded when Moussa Camara beat South Africa goalkeeper Samukelo Xulu to score the equaliser in the 37th minute.
The two teams picked up where they left off in the second period and while Guinea impressed the supporters with their passing game, it was the South Africans who always had the sharper edge in front of goal and looked like scoring. Man of the match Thabiso Kutumela once again stepped up and punished Guinea with a low shot to give South Africa the 2-1 lead in the 54th minute. It was Kutumela’s second goal of the tournament after scoring against Algeria last Friday.
The South Africans could have scored two more goals in the second half but in the end, Ntseki was happy to walk away with the priceless victory.
“You can tell how difficult it was, and how tough it was. But at the end of the day, Guinea played the game, and we scored the goals. And what is important for us was to score the goals and win the game. We are very pleased with the result, but there is still a lot of work that we need to do going into the next match (against Niger),” Ntseki said.
“As for Guinea, I think they came at us after we scored the first goal, which was a beautiful goal and worked out in line with our preparations. I also think the recovery period was a bit short for us (after facing Algeria on Friday), especially when you look into the intensity of the last game we played. Guinea also played on the same day (on Friday), and they lost 3-0. From our side, when it comes to our physical recovery and game preparation, we will look deeper into our readiness (ahead of the next game against Niger).
“Our physical conditioning coach and our medical team will have to work on the players so that they are fresher and more focused after winning against such a difficult and tough team. They really made us run. In terms of the kilometres that were covered by our team defensively, I think it was more than 12 kilometres.”
Ntseki said the team will use the next few days to recover and also plan for their next Group C match against Niger on Friday.
