Head coach Hugo Broos was full of praise for Bafana Bafana's performance despite losing to Nigeria in the semi-final of the AFCON.
South Africa’s AFCON title ambitions went up in smoke after suffering a heartbreaking 4-2 defeat in the penalty shootout against the Super Eagles.
The game had ended in a 1-1 scoreline thanks to second half goals by William Troot-Ekong and Teboho Mokoena from the spot.
READ | Nigeria pip Bafana to AFCON final
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Broos admitted disappointed but also praised his squad for their performance.
"Football can hurt, when you look the performance of my team today," Broos said.
"Then there are penalties, then you lose the game, you are not in the final, it’s hard to accept that because we played a very good game today.
"I think we were the best team in the first half. We had the best chances. Nigeria didn’t have not one chance. Nothing. Second half, okay, they had a few chances, they could score but then we changed something tactically, and we could come back.
"But two minutes before the end for the 90 minutes we had again, good chances, so if we could score there, it’s that would be going to the final and not Nigeria.
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"Okay, that can happen in football, it’s a big disappointment for everyone because we feel that we played a very good game and we had a very good AFCON.
"So yes, it’s a defeat and you see we played a very bad game against Cape Verde and you win with penalties. That’s also football.
"But again, I think we should only think about the way we played the AFCON and I know that everyone knows South Africa now as a good, playing them and that is the most important thing."
Bafana still have a bronze medal to play for and will meet DR Congo on Saturday. Kick off is at 22:00.
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