Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has commended his team’s performance after they played to a 1-1 draw against next year’s Africa Cup of Nations’ hosts, Ivory Coast and also made a plea with South African football fans.
Themba Zwane gave Bafana a first-half lead, but Sebastien Haller found an equaliser in the second half in a high-pace international friendly in Abidjan on Tuesday.
Broos was pleased that his team showed a much better performance than in their goalless draw with eSwatini on Friday and said with a bit more luck they could’ve gone 2-0 up.
“As angry I was Friday, as pleased and happy I am today,” he told Bafana’s media team after the match.
“I think South Africa played a very good game against a very good team. There was a good mentality on the pitch and they played good football.
“It was not only defending but the way we sometimes attacked, we put Ivory Coast in trouble.
“It’s a pity that we didn’t score the biggest chance of the game in the second half, otherwise it should’ve been 2-0 and we win the game.
“But ok, I said before the game to the players ‘try to have a result, but first priority try to have a good performance’ and we had a good performance today.”
After playing in front of 21,650 fans at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Broos also sent a message to South African football fans to support them more for their own home games.
“We talked about it a lot but when you come to the pitch and there are 200 spectators to support you it was very difficult,” he added.
“Even today, there was a full stadium, all supporters of Ivory Coast but you know that gives motivation to players also.
“Again, I hope that for Benin next month that South Africa will support us and they will be in the stadium because it’s very important to have them there.”
