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The ‘second coming’ of Bafana Bafana head coach Carlos Alberto may not have snapped the team’s two-game losing streak but the World Cup-winning soccer coach was relatively pleased with the team’s 0-0 draw with Asian giants Japan at the Nelson Mandela Stadium at the weekend.

In a post-match presser, a relatively satisfied, Parreira said taking into consideration that some players were coming off injuries, unfit or off-form for their clubs, he considered a draw a “fair result”.

He was confident the team will soon come right.

“This is just the beginning and from now we have to aim higher to improve the standard of the team overall. The team spirit is good and the players are really trying to turn things a round … I believe we will get better and better.”

Played in front of a cosmopolitan, enthusiastic 40 000-plus crowd, the new-look Bafana team, with prodigal son Benni McCarthy leading the line, did well to hold a talented and mobile Japanese side who are ranked 40th in the latest Fifa rankings – 45 places above the hosts.

But the old bad habits of the Joel Santana era, that of lack of penetration and easily giving up possession were still evident.

Seemingly inspired by team captain Aaron Mokoena’s midweek call for the players to “put their bodies on the line for their country”, the boys in green and gold fought back to dominate the latter part of the first half after being outplayed in the first 20 minutes by the better organised Japanese.

In a match bereft of goalmouth excitement, it was the men from the Land of the Rising Sun, who almost drew first blood, but the enigmatic Moeneeb Josephs proved equal to the task.

The Orlando Pirates goalkeeper, who pipped Rowan Fernandez for the number one jersey, pulled off a world-class save to deny the visitors a 13th minute lead, when he punched over the bar a 20m pile- driver from Makoto Hasebe.

Minutes later Shinji Okazaki got the better of a lethargic looking Bafana defence but his effort just flew past the upright.

Siphiwe Tshabalala almost stole the lead for the hosts on the half- hour mark, but the Kaizer Chiefs star was unlucky to see his well- struck effort turned away for a corner by agile Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima.

A moment of selfishness by the otherwise hardworking Katlego Mphela, cost McCarthy the chance to mark his return to the Bafana fold with a goal.

A great ball, in the 38th minute, from impressive Belgium-based right-back Anele Ngcongca found Mphela, but with McCarthy well- positioned and in acres of space, the Mamelodi Sundowns marksman chose to go for personal glory and disappointingly blasted over the crossbar.

And that would have been McCarthy’s only real chance of the game as the unsettled Blackburn Rovers striker was continuously forced to come deep in search of the ball. In his defence, the not fully match-fit McCarthy did his best to stay involved in a game short of goalmouth action and should be commended for his positive team spirit by not getting frustrated when not getting the ball.

The second half did not offer much more in terms of chances although Parreira did make daring substitutions in the 68th minute when taking off the out-of-sorts Teko Modise, who hardly made any of his customary penetrating runs into the opposition half, for Port Elizabeth-born midfielder Elrio van Heerden, Kagisho Dikgacoi, for Reneilwe Letsholonyane and the impressive Siphiwe Tshabalala Supersport United’s Daine Klate.

The best chance of the half fell to Japan but again the visitors found man-of-the-match Josephs at his sublime best when his fingertip save in the 78th minute saved the South Africans and their new coach blushes. - By DOMINIC PEEL