Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has heaped praise on his players despite losing their Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Nigeria.
South Africa forced Nigeria into extra-time and penalties after coming back from a goal down thanks to a late Teboho Mokoena penalty.
However, this time around, Bafana lost the lottery and were knocked out by the Super Eagles, who advanced to Sunday’s final.
Broos, though says he was was proud of his team, praising their performance against Nigeria as well as throughout the tournament.
“Football can be hard,” Broos said after the match.
“When you see the performance of my team today and then there is penalties and you lose the game, you’re 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 first half, we had the best chances. Nigeria didn’t have one chance, no, nothing. Second half, ok, they had a few chances adn scored.
“But then we changed something tactically and we could come back but two minutes before the end of the 90 minutes we had again three chances. So if we could score there, it’s us going to the final and not Nigeria.
“Ok, that can happen in football. It’s a big disappointment for everyone because we feel that we played a very good game today, that we played a very good AFCON.
“I’m very, very proud of it. I’m proud of my players. The disappointment is this, but the proudness is that.
“What they performed, not only today, I think you have to be proud as a coach. Yes, it’s a defeat and you see you played a very bad game against Cape Verde and you win with penalties and today you play a very good game against Nigeria and you lose with penalties.
“That’s also football. But again, we have only to think about the way we played this AFCON. And I think everyone knows South Africa as a good playing team and that is the most important.”
