The South Africa senior men’s national team secured a 6-5 win on penalties against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the third place match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Abidjan on Saturday.
After the victory, the head coach of Bafana Bafana, Hugo Broos expressed his delight with the performance of the team after surviving the Congolese threats during 90 minutes. The game ended 0-0 in regulation time.
“I told you after the last match against Nigeria that I was so proud to be the coach of the team and I think everyone can see today why I said I am so proud of them. This was an exhausted team today,” Broos told journalists after the match.
The Congolese side dominated the game and had lots of chances to have won but wil return home with a fourth placed finish at the end of a rewarding tournament.
“We played two games of 120 minutes and two times with penalties. We played against opponents that have had more days rest than we had. The climate as you saw today that we were not fresh but when you see the mentality in the team and fight till the last seconds of the game. They were players that were fatigued but still went on to get a deserved win.” He continued.
“When you see the game, Congo were better than us but if you fight for it like the playes did, today I think they deserve it and I am very proud of them.”
On his future, Broos whp won the tournament with Cameroon in 2017 wants to stay as the coach of Bafana Bafana to continue the good project he is working on despite rumours linking him wih other jobs.
“It is normal when you have results as a coach and played a very good tournament for example interest from players. For a player it is clubs. For a coch is the country. I had that experience as well when I won with Cameroon but most of the time it is only rumours. I can say today that there is nothing. If Hugo Broos is leaving South Africa, it will be because the Federation decides that I leave. I am happy with my job and the team. I am not always happy with the media but okay we will see now that people will be more behind our team because of this result.”
South are the only team to have traveled through to all the five centres in Abidjan, Yamossoukro, Bouake, Korhogo, and San Pedro.
“It is different when you have to love to different venues for games. Secondly, in every city that we played, the weather were very hot. Climate circumstances were not good. We are happy that we have to play once at 5 pm so the rest were 8 pm. That was also an advantage. For the rest like accomodation were good except for little details but it was tough. The changes of hotel, stadium, and environment. It is okay. This is a tournament that we need to think on what is important which happened today.
“First of all we had problems with injured players. I was happy that I could recuperate some of them for the game like Tebogo Mokoena. This showed again what this tournament attached to my players after going through 120 games. The players showed mentality. Today was a difficult game. It showed that if we have injury worries and suspended players, we can rely on other players. After the game against Moroco, I was happy and satisfied with what the players did on the pitch but I was even satisfied for thos on the bench. They supported the guys on the pitch. You know that you have 23 guys.
“When I was in Cameroon, I didn’t know what AFCON was. I didn’t know how the games went. For me the big surprise from the beginning in Gabon was the intensity of the games. Every team is playing for his life and just want to win the game. This AFCON you saw the little teams made lot of progress and eliminated the big teams. This was for me a very good experience. When I came to South Africa and qualified for AFCON, I knew what I can tell the players and expect.
“With this third place we don’t have to think everything is okay. There is still a lot of work. I think the basic is there and everyone knows that when they play for the national team what we expect from them as players. The good mentality we showed today and do what my team did it means you have the mentality. Again the basic is there now. The players are there now as we have to work better to make progression with the team. We are two steps forward than two years ago and I think this is very important.” He concluded.
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