South Africa’s head coach, Hugo Broos, has reacted to his team’s semi-final defeat to Nigeria at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.

Bafana Bafana, who were looking for their second AFCON title, lost 4-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after regulation time plus extra time at the Stadium of Peace in Bouake.

In the dying minutes, Broos’ side came from a goal down to force the match into extra time and penalties. However, not even Ronwen Williams’s quarterfinal heroics against Cape Verde could be replicated, as the Super Eagles scored four of their five spot kicks, with South Africa converting just two from four.

In his post-match reaction, Broos stated that his side played much better and deserved to win the game against Nigeria.

Broos said it was a painful defeat for Bafana Bafana, who have been resilient since losing the opening match against Mali.

“Football can be hard sometimes. When you see the performance of my team today and then there are penalties, and then you lose the penalties and you are not in the finals, it’s hard to accept that because we played a very good game today,” Broos said.

The Belgian gaffer has rued his team’s missed chances, especially in the first half, with a well-controlled second-half performance that kept Nigeria in check.

“I think we were the best team in the first half; we got the best chances, and Nigeria didn’t have any chance. In the second half, they had few chances, which resulted in a goal, and we changed something tactically, and we could come back,” he stated.

“We created more chances, which means if we had scored, we would have been in the final and not Nigeria.”

South Africa will now face D.R. Congo in the third-place playoff on Saturday, February 10.