Kaizer Chiefs head coach Arthur Zwane has compared Bafana Bafana's performance at Orlando Stadium to his side's previous struggles and used Percy Tau as an example to quell criticism.
Chiefs' results have been fluctuating under Zwane, who was under pressure before his side won four games in a row in all competitions, including booking a spot in the quarter-finals.
The Glamour Boys' struggles this season are somehow reflected by the fact that they had no player selected at the recent Bafana Bafana squad that played back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifier matches against Liberia.
Read: Zwane Hints At Chiefs' Transfer Window Plans
South Africa almost made it hard for themselves to qualify after they squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with the Lone Stars at Orlando Stadium after missing a host of chances.
And although Hugo Broos' charges eventually sealed qualification with a 2-1 win in Monrovia, Zwane says how they missed chances at Orlando Stadium is an indication that the goal-scoring problem is not only a Chiefs issue and that even quality players like Tau can miss chances.
"When you look at what happened at Orlando Stadium we could have turned things into a worse situation just because we missed chances, so do we doubt those players?" Zwane told reporters at the club's Open Media Day.
"No you can't, the quality is there. You want to tell me you doubt Percy Tau because he missed chances at Orlando (Stadium)? But how many times Tau scored great goals for us as a nation?
"You understand what I'm saying? So that's why the part of judging players...You just have to understand that football is played by human beings that are bound to make mistakes at any given time, they always need our support," he said.
'Mangethe' went on and congratulated Bafana for eventually qualifying for the Afcon in Ivory Coast next year and drew parallels with them eventually going on a winning run.
"And we went to Monrovia for one thing, to make sure we grind the result and we're proud of them, they made us proud, all of us as South Africans, we're proud, we're waiting for the Nations Cup because South Africa qualified, that's what we wanted," he said.
"It was a same situation with us where we created a number of chances and we missed them, some we took them and we find ourselves now we're winning four games on the trot it's because we took most of ours chances, although we made mistakes that nearly cost us but what was very important was to grind the result," he added.
Chiefs will resume their league schedule when they host Stellenbosch on Saturday evening.
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