Hugo Broos, the head coach of the South African national team, expressed his belief that his team deserved a more favorable result following their semi-final match against Nigeria.
Despite their strong performance, the South African squad, known as Bafana Bafana, suffered a 4-2 defeat in a penalty shootout against the Super Eagles. Broos’ team showcased resilience by equalizing after conceding a goal, but ultimately fell short in their bid to reach the final, with the match being decided by a nail-biting penalty shootout.
“Football can be hard,”Broos commented on the match.
He went further to say…“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, okay, they had a few chances and 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.
“Okay, 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.”