Defeat leaves South Africa reeling
CUREPIPE, Mauritius (Reuters) -- South Africa suffered another huge setback ahead of the African Nations Cup when they crashed 2-0 against Mauritius in the Cosafa Cup on Saturday.
The tie was designed to be an easy warm-up for South Africa ahead of their departure for Tunisia, but backfired as Mauritius scored twice in the second half.
"It's the biggest win in Mauritius soccer history," said coach Rajesh Gunesh, taking charge of his first match.
"We out-thought them tactically and deserved to win."
The surprise defeat to the Indian Ocean islanders followed the suspension of coach Ephraim Mashaba earlier this week and left the country's squad in crisis just two weeks before the start of the Nations Cup.
South Africa's Russian-based defender Jacob Lekgetho put past his own goalkeeper eight minutes into the second half attempting to clear a harmless-looking cross from Gilbert Bayaram.
Mauritius, who crowded the midfield and effectively dealt with South Africa' s wingers, added a second on the counter attack in the 81st minute through Christopher Perle.
Mashaba was suspended on Wednesday by the South African Football Association, who accused him of being in breach of his contract.
His terse relationship with key overseas-based players plus his failure to keep tabs on the performance of South African players in Europe were cited as the reasons for his suspension.
South Africa are set to go to the Nations Cup finals without five key players who have made themselves unavailable, including Manchester United's Quinton Fortune and the FC Porto striker Benni McCarthy.
Officials said a final decision on the coach would be made before Friday, when the South Africans are set to depart for Tunisia via Senegal, where they will play another warm-up match.
