Bafana Bafana star Percy Tau is hoping his performances improve as they target the last-16 qualification and he sent a message to the nation.
Tau, 29, was subject to intense criticism after missing a crucial penalty in the 2-0 defeat to Mali which could have put South Africa in an early lead in the Group E opener.
He, along with head coach Hugo Broos, admitted it was a defining moment of the game but he made up for the costly miss by opening the scoring in similar circumstances as they thrashed Namibia 4-0 on Sunday evening in Korhogo.
Now, the CAF inter-club Player of the Year is targeting further improvement after being deplored in an inverted left-wing role, rather than his inside forward role coming from the right – which he’s been his primary role for Bafana in recent years.
“As an individual, I think my performances are getting better, it’s not where I wanted, it’s different demands, so it’s sometimes difficult to judge the performances individually,” Tau explained about his own performance after the game.
“If you look at today, I had a different role, so yeah it plays a role – I’ll be happy if I go up like this [with my form]. I’ll be happy if I grow [better] in this tournament, I’ll be so happy.”
The Bafana Bafana vice-captain went on to send a message to supporters, who have been divided on the squad during the continental showpiece in Ivory Coast this month.
“Our message to them is that we’ll always try to give our best and make them proud, we know the AFCON is difficult but we’re here now giving our best for the country and hopefully we’ll finish in a better place [than the last AFCON],” he said confidently.
“We want to try to do something special here and that does not change even though we lost the first game – I mean it’s a tournament, it’s not sometimes about how you start.”
