Hugo Broos admitted his side were overpowered by Mali in the second haf. Picture: Weam Mostafa/BackpagePix
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has explained the slightly strange situation that led up to Percy Tau missing a vital penalty in Bafana Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations Group E 2-0 loss to Mali in Korhogo on Tuesday evening.
After a VAR review, Bafana were awarded a spot kick for an elbow on Evidence Makgopa, and it initially looked like Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Teboho Mokoena was going to take the spot kick. In the end, however, Tau took the ball, and skied his penalty horribly over the bar.
“We have three guys for the game (to take a penalty), Aubrey (Modiba), (Teboho) Mokoena, and Percy,” said Broos.
“They decided on the pitch (who will take the penalty), it is not up to me … the one who feels the best has to take the penalty.
“You can’t blame him (Tau), taking a penalty is not easy, but it changed the game,”
Bafana were made to pay for several missed chances in the first half, including the spot kick, as Mali came out with far more urgency after the break, Hamari Traore and Lassine Sinayoko scoring the goals that handed the Eagles all three points.
“The coach of Mali saw what he had to do and they were stronger in their duels in the second half, and we couldn’t play our game any more,” said Broos.
“That was because of the power of Mali. We gave away two goals, for the second goal we lost the ball in a place we didn’t have to and then the game is finished.
“I think if we had scored the penalty the game would be different, but this is a comment after the game and it doesn’t change the result,” added Broos.
The Bafana head coach is still confident his side can beat Namibia on Sunday, even though the Desert Warriors will be on a high after stunning Tunisia 1-0 on Tuesday.
“If we don’t win that game, we are in a very bad situation,” said Broos.
“Therefore it was important to have a good result today. Now we play Namibia and I think we have to win, even with a draw it will be difficult to go through the group stages.
“(But) I will tell the boys that if we can go out like we played today I am sure we can win … against Namibia.”
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