Despite the disappointment of Bafana Bafana missing out on a place in the Africa Cup of Nations final scheduled for this weekend, head coach Hugo Broos is proud of what has been achieved by the team.
Bafana lost to Nigeria in the semi-finals through penalty shootouts on Wednesday evening and will be competing in the third and fourth place playoffs against the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Saturday night.
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Prior to travelling to Ivory Coast, Bafana had critics who predicted their early exit from the tournament but Broos and the team remained positive and focused on the task at hand.
The Belgian tactician is delighted that pride has been restored for the nation.
"Football can be hard. When you see the performance of my team today, and then there are penalties, and then you lose the game and you are not in the final, it is hard to accept that. We played a very good game today. I think we were the best team in the first half, we had the best chances. Nigeria didn't have one chance, no, nothing," said Broos, speaking to journalists after the match.
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"In the second half they had a few chances they could score but we changed something tactically so we could come back. But two minutes before the end of 90 minutes, we had three chances. If we had scored there, we would win it to go to the final. Okay, that can happen in football and it's a big disappointment for everyone because we feel that we played a very good game and not only today, but we played a very good AFCON and I'm very proud of it," the experienced mentor said.
"I'm proud of my players… the disappointment is this, but the proudness is that. What they did and the way they performed, not only today, I think we have to be proud. I think we have only to think about the way we played at this AFCON, and I know that everyone knows South Africa now as a good playing team and that is the most important thing," said the coach.
