Second-half show leads Serbia past South Africa

World Cup hosts South Africa failed to impress as the Bafana Bafana crashed to a 1-3 defeat by Serbia in an international friendly on Wednesday.

No goals were scored in the first half of the match, played in the city of Tshwane.

Serbia gained strength after the break though and South Africa showed little resemblance to the team that reached the semi finals at June’s Confederations Cup.

Manchester United’s Zoran Tosic broke the deadlock in the 56th minute and PSV’s Danko Lazovic made it 0-2 in the 69th. Whatever was left of South Africa’s hopes was eliminated when Tosic got his second in the 77th minute.

Katlego Mphela netted a consolation goal late on, but it wasn’t enough to turn things around.