Coach Morena Ramoreboli had some special praise for goalkeeper Olwethu Mzimela after Bafana Bafana secured third place at the COSAFA Cup.
The two teams had chances to grab victory during normal time through numerous openings, but neither got ahead and it went to a shoot-out which the host won 5-3.
"To be honest, as much as I'm happy that we won. I'm very much happy with these guys, how they performed, how they were behaving in and off the field," Ramoreboli told SuperSport TV.
Read| Bafana secure third place at COSAFA Cup
"They are true professionals. I still believe most of them can still contribute a lot into South African football and congratulations to them."
Mzimela, who got the nod in the semi-final defeat to Zambia ahead of Jethren Barr, put up a man-of-the-match display and earned the praise of Ramoreboli.
"Mzimela in goal, the future of South African football. The boy is good, he is so good. Very, very confident. If you look what he did when they were going for the fourth penalty.
"You could see how confident he was, he knew this was the penalty to take and he did exactly that."
Ramoreboli also took time to give gratitude to all at the top of the country's football structure not least the president and technical director.
"And thanks to South Africans and thanks once again to the South African Football Association and Dr Danny Jordaan, the technical committee -TD and as well as the CEO," he added/
"I really want to take this opportunity to thank them for the opportunity and the opportunities they presented to these boys as well," Ramoreboli pointed out.