The drubbing Bafana Bafana got from Tunisia should not be an excuse for the prophets of doom to call for coach Carlos Parreira's head.

The drubbing Bafana Bafana got from Tunisia should not be an excuse for the prophets of doom to call for coach Carlos Parreira's head.

Our boys have shown guts at the African Cup of Nations tournament.

South Africans need to rally behind the national team and stop dwelling on the loss.

Several African giants have also lost - some by huge margins - in this tough competition.

Granted, a team of Bafana's stature should not be making the silly mistakes that cost them Sunday's game.

But we should still support coach Parreira and his squad. Losing a match is not the end of the world. After all football is about winning, losing or sharing the spoils.

But the coach and his charges must also reciprocate the nation's goodwill.

They must remember that the country has invested a lot of money in building the team and cannot be expected to settle for less than impressive results forever.

People are, therefore, entitled to ask whether the coach has not had too many good players warming the bench since the beginning of the competition.

But Parreira and his technical support need to be given a chance to experiment so as to build a strong team that is also going to compete in the 2010 Afcon and World Cup.

Sunday's defeat should be viewed as nothing but a lesson for our boys to perform better in future games.