Head coach Hugo Broos feels South Africa were the better despite succumbing to a 4-2 penalty shoot-out Cup of Nations semi-final defeat to Nigeria.
The Bafana Bafana came back from a goal down to take the game to penalties but ended up losing. Reacting to their defeat, Broos explained his side played much better and deserved to win the game.
“Football can be hard sometimes when you see the performance of my team today, and then there are penalties, and then you lose the penalties and you are not in the finals, it’s hard to accept that because we played a very good game today,” said Broos.
“I think we were the best team in the first half, we got the best chances. Nigeria didn’t have any chance. They had few chances in the second half, which resulted in a goal. We changed something tactically, and we came back.
“We created more chances which means if we had scored, we would have been in the final and not Nigeria.”
The Belgian tactician hailed his team for what has been a great tournament for them.
“It’s a big disappointment for everyone. We believe we played a very good game, not just today but throughout the tournament. I’m proud of my players, the disappointment is this but the proudness is that,” he concluded.
South Africa will now face D.R Congo in the third-place playoff on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Nigeria head coach José Peseiro has commended the South African’s efforts in challenging the Super Eagles.
Altrhough Nigeria deserves to be in the final, Peseiro said they had to work for it.
“The players deserve to be in the finals, it’s a very good victory against a good team. I said it earlier that South Africa have the best of organisation because they play together. They created more problems for us. It was very difficult to beat them,” he said.
“Huge congratulations to Hugo Broos, who put this team together. They played well.”
