Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau admits the 4-0 win over Namibia is a huge morale boost and says they aim to go further at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations to see Themba Zwane shine further in the competition.
Tau suffered severe criticism from the public after his missed penalty against Mali which saw South Africa end up losing 2-0 on Tuesday evening.
However, he stepped up in identical circumstances against Namibia to slot home the opener to start the 4-0 rout of the Brave Warriors which revived their hopes of winning Group E going into the final match of the round.
“What was different from the Mali game is that I managed to score, I was not happy that I missed the previous one like I said [when we last spoke], had I scored that one it could have changed the whole game, so I was happy to have scored that one,” Tau told iDiski Times before admitting the win is a huge morale booster for the squad.
“It wasn’t good to lose the first game, we hoped to have started on a high, but this is a tournament – it happens that sometimes things don’t go our way, so I’m just happy that we’re able to bounce back today, get a win, didn’t concede, we played a different approach but it worked.”
Tau went on to heap praise on his former Mamelodi Sundowns teammate Themba Zwane who produced a Man of the Match display with two well-taken goals, as he continues to serve head coach Hugo Broos with solid displays since his return to the national team.
“We’re happy with him, he’s a great player – we’re glad to be with him, he’s shining here, I mean we’ll still have him for the next few games, hopefully, we can go far with him in this tournament and he’ll keep on shining,” Tau said briefly in the mixed zone.
South Africa will now face Tunisia on Wednesday evening at the Amadou Gon Coulibay Stadium at 19h00.
