Bafana Bafana slumped to their seventh defeat in the last eight friendly internationals when they were beaten 1-0 by Norway at a cold Ullevaal Stadium on Saturday.

The only goal came in the 48th minute and was scored by Kjetil Waehler.

Another setback against Iceland in Reykjavik on Tuesday night will probably sound the death knell for Bafana head coach Joel Santana.

Santana got his tactics horribly wrong again against the 43rd ranked team in the world,Norway, who failed to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa next June.

Santana's team tried to defend when they should have gone for broke and attacked. This timid approach will not have pleased Santana's new bosses at the South African Football Association (Safa), who told the Brazilian coach they want results and quickly before he and his squad left for their two match trip to Norway and Iceland.

So concerned are Safa with Bafana's slump in form that they appointed three assessors to run the rule over Bafana's performances against Norway and Iceland.

The three assessors, Clive Barker, Jomo Sono and Gavin Hunt will have a field day after this miserable ultra defensive display in which Santana failed to change the game when things went wrong.

Badly needing a win to restore faith in and the players' ability, Santana again stubbornly fielded two defensive midfielders in Macbeth Sibaya and Kagiso Dikgacoi when he needed to be more adventurous. Again, Santana has been found wanting as were his players who lacked urgency and motivation.

For Norway it was sweet revenge for their 2-1 defeat which Bafana inflicted on them in March in a friendly played in Rustenburg.

Norway were all over Bafana in a one-sided first half in which the South Africans did not have a single shot at Norwegian goalkeeper Jon Knudsen. The home side totally dominated and had Bafana in trouble with their pace and had their visitors under a lot of pressure.

That pressure meant that neither Bafana strikers, Katlego Mashego nor Bernard Parker, saw much of the ball and were virtual spectators. Without injured midfield star Steven Pienaar, the Bafana engineroom failed to fire with both creative players Teko Modise and Siphiwe Tshabalala failing to stamp any authority on the game.

The busiest Bafana player was surprise choice keeper Moeneeb Josephs who was given the nod over other keepers in the squad, Rowen Fernandez and Emile Baron, who had played in Norway for Lillestrom in 2000.

Josephs who has been in brilliant form for Orlando Pirates earned his selection and did not disappoint. He did well to cut out a dangerous cross into his area by Blackburn Rovers Morten Gamst Pedersen after two minutes.

Josephs was a little fortunate in the 20th minute when the Norwegian League's top goal scorer Erik Huseklepp rounded him but shot into the side netting. Pedersen who was a constant thorn in the Bafana's defence came close when a cross sailed past the post in the 25th minute.

Josephs did well to deny Pedersen in the 26th and 27th minutes. But the Pirates star made the best save of the match on the half hour mark when he brilliantly turned Henning Haugar's goal bound rocket for a corner and kept his side in this match.

Norway got their deserved breakthrough three minutes after halftime when the ball-watching Bafana defenders were helpless to prevent Waehler from heading home a long throw-in to put the home side into a 1-0 lead.

Santana finally threw off his defensives shackles and brought on attacking minded players such as Franklyn Cale, Mabhuti Khenyeza and Richard Henyekane. But it was too little too late.

Knudsen made a routine save off Dikgacoi in the 77th minute. A minute later former Liverpool star John Anne Riise fired a left footed bullet fractionally wide of the Bafana post.

Knudsen made his first real save from a well directed shot from Katlego Mphela in the 81st minute. But Riise nearly extended Norway's lead but the AS Roma midfielder who was unmarked at the far post volleyed over the upright in the 82nd minute.