England legend Ian Wright has poked fun at Bafana Bafana following their disappointing 2-0 defeat to Mexico in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup.
Goals from Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez secured all three points for the hosts, who moved to the top of Group A after a dominant display.
Wright, a well-known admirer of Bafana Bafana, was left frustrated by the performance of Hugo Broos’ side and did not hold back in his assessment after the match.
In a video that quickly went viral on social media, the former Arsenal striker was seen jokingly singing that “Bafana Bafana are the best team in the world” before bursting into laughter.
Bafana suffer defeat at World Cup
The clip was a reference to South African comedian Leon Schuster and a famous scene from the movie Panic Mechanic, where Schuster humorously sings the same phrase while pranking unsuspecting members of the public.
The clip resurfaced online ahead of Bafana’s World Cup opener and gained significant traction among football fans.
Despite the light-hearted mockery, Wright’s criticism centred on South Africa’s tactical approach against Mexico.
Assessing the match, Wright felt Bafana abandoned the attacking identity that had brought them success under Broos and instead looked uncomfortable in a new formation.
“They changed their system. I know they were not playing great coming into the tournament, but they changed from a 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 and we could see they don’t know what they are doing,” Wright said.
“They will probably have to re-examine their approach. I thought they were very poor and sloppy. That won’t go down well in South Africa, that’s for sure.”
The defeat leaves Bafana Bafana with work to do in their World Cup group, with growing criticism over both their cautious approach and lack of attacking threat against a Mexican side that capitalised on South Africa’s mistakes.