South Africa’s dreams of going to next year’s World Cup in Russia went up in smoke when they lost 2-1 to Cape Verde at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday night.

The defeat means Bafana dropped to fourth in the group standings and will need a miracle if they are to go to Russia. But with the kind of performances they have displayed in the two games against Cape Verde it doesn’t look likely.

A lot was expected from Bafana after their shock defeat in Praia, in the Cape Verde Islands, but they did not do enough to show they wanted it. They were lethargic in front of goals and struggled to create clear-cut scoring chances.

Garry Rodrigues silenced South Africans in the 51st minute with a well-taken free kick that Wayne Sandilands could do nothing about. Rodrigues was again on the scoresheet a few minutes later with another wonderful strike and Cape Verde were on their way to making double over Bafana.

Andile Jali’s goal in the 89th minute gave the hosts false hopes of coming back in the contest but it was too little too late for Bafana.