Bafana Bafana star Bongani Zungu has lamented his side defeat to Nigeria in the quarter final of the ongoing African Cup of Nations at the Cairo international stadium, Wednesday evening.
South Africa came into the game against the three time African champions in full confidence after their shock win over Egypt in the round of 16.
However, after drawing level late in the second half through aBongani Zungu‘s header, Nigeria responded with their second goal with a minute left in the regulation time to claimed the semi-final tickets at stake.
Nonetheless, Zungu believed, his side lost concentrations at the crucial time.
“First of all, a very disappointing result for us,” Zungu told the media.
“First half we gave them a lot of respect. Second half, the coach told us to press them high and I think we did quite good and we were moving the ball well.
“I felt like we were going to score, and when we scored the goal we were in the game, but unfortunately, we lost concentration in the end.
“It’s very disappointing, we are sad, but I am very proud of the team. We fought hard, we didn’t start the tournament good, but we should have won this one. But it’s part of the game.
Although, the Bafana Bafana struggled all night to test Nigerian South African based goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi, Zungu claimed their game plan worked perfectly , but were let down by little details.
“We had a good game plan, but I feel in the first half we gave them a lot of respect, we had to press them high, so their centre backs do not play the diagonal ball to Musa and the other winger, but as I said in the second half we did well,” he explained.
“We got back to the game, we moved the ball well. We closed them down, we put them under pressure, but we just lost concentration. I think that’s where the game was [decided]. We have to now go back to the drawing board. It’s very disappointing.” He concluded.
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