Warriors interim coach Jairos Tapera lamented the defensive mistakes that cost his team in the match against South Africa on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe lost 3-1 on the fourth day of Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Defender Munashe Garan’anga lost the ball by mistake and Iqraam Rayners took advantage of the error and opened the scoring in the first minute.
Another mistake, this time by Warriors goalkeeper Godfrey Chitsumba, saw Thapelo Morena score Bafana’s second goal.
speaking to SABC Sport After the game, Tapera stated: “We made life difficult for ourselves defensively.
“Imagine, in the first minute through the center back, he made a mistake and we conceded.
“We immediately scored the tie, stabilized everything and started to do well.
“We thought we could score the second goal, but due to a mistake, we conceded for the second time.
“We weren’t marking well in the area and they punished us.
“The third goal was through the middle again and we were punished.”
Zimbabwe got their consolation goal thanks to Tawanda Chirewa, who had an outstanding performance throughout the match, in the second minute.
Meanwhile, the result put South Africa in second place with seven points, while the Warriors remained at the bottom of the group with two points.
