BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa – Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Tawanda Chirewa scored his debut goal in Zimbabwe national football team colours but the effort was not enough to save the Warriors from the jaws of a 3-1 defeat to South Africa in a FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifying clash played at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Tuesday night.

South Africa were first to find the net just 35 seconds into the clash through a strike by Iqraam Rayners.

But Chirewa cut short their celebrations with a solo effort a minute later to level matters.

The neighbours kept the score line unchanged until the Warriors bubble burst in the second half through a double strike by substitute Thapelo Morena after 55 and 76 minutes respectively.

Speaking to SABC Sport soon after the match, Warriors interim coach Jairos Tapera bemoaned his charges defensive frailties which he said cost his side the game.

“We made our lives difficult in terms of defending,” he said.

“Imagine, in the first minute through the central defender, he made a mistake and we conceded.

“We immediately scored an equaliser, stabilised everything and started doing well.

“We thought we might get the second goal, but a lapse in concentration saw us conceding for the second time.

“We were not marking tight in the box and they punished us.

“The third goal, it was through the middle again and we were punished.”

The defeat to South Africa is the Warriors’ second inside 4 days after Zimbabwe also suffered a 2-0 defeat to Lesotho last Friday.

Bafana Bafana have the luck of being “hosted” by the Warriors in their (South Africa) own land as both Zimbabwe and Lesotho are playing their home matches in South Africa because their home grounds were not approved by the Confederation of African Football.

Zimbabwe lie bottom of the six-nation table with just two points from 4 matches played so far.

The Warriors drew twice with Rwanda and Nigeria last November before suffering humiliating losses lately in the hands of minnows Lesotho and South Africa.

Rwanda, South Africa and Benin are all tied on 7 points while Lesotho are fourth on 5 points.

Africa Cup of Nations losing finalists Nigeria are a surprise number 5 on 3 points while Zimbabwe anchor the standings with just 2 points.