Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau admits it’s a relief to head to the Africa Cup of Nations with a bonus agreement in place while admitting the challenges to appease the supporters.
The South African squad and the South African Football Association (SAFA) have been at loggerheads for several months over bonus agreements.
However, it’s seemingly put behind them with a memorandum of agreement penned yesterday which was confirmed by SAFA President Dr. Danny Jordaan.
“We’re happy to finalise everything, I don’t think the money was the only issue, there were other issues that we had to sort out, we’re happy everything was sorted out and now we just want to focus on football right now,” Tau said in Stellenbosch on Monday afternoon.
When questioned about their confidence going into the tournament in Ivory Coast, having agreed to a $7-million bonus if they come home as champions Tau said it’s always their ambition to compete for the title.
“It’s always difficult for us to satisfy the public, but we’ve always wanted to be a team that could try and compete,” Tau added.
“Even the last time I went to AFCON in Egypt, we wanted to compete and try our best to go all the way, that has not changed even now.
“But people have different opinions about the process we’re in because they say this based on missing out on the last [AFCON]. So we understand that but we want to go all the way.”
Tau arrives as one of the key players for head coach Hugo Broos and the reigning CAF inter-club Player of the Year.
