We did everything we could but it was not good enough on the day. We took the game to them, attacked them very well but they were solid.
Bafana Bafana midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala has apologised to the nation following the national team’s early exit from the 2014 CHAN tournament.
South Africa lost 3-1 to Nigeria in their final Group A match played at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday, 19 January.
Bafana Bafana were outplayed and out-muscled off the park by a Nigerian side that needed nothing but victory to proceed to the last eight of the tournament.
South Africa needed a draw, but it was not to be. Tshabalala reflected on the match and apologised for the early exit.
“It is very disappointing that we are out of the tournament being the hosts. We were hoping to advance to the quarterfinals and go all the way to the finals. So we are very disappointed that we lost to Nigeria. They had their chances and took them, we did our best in terms of creating scoring chances but their goalkeeper was one of the best players on the park and denied us numerous times. We are not happy that we conceded three goals,” said Tshabalala, the most capped player in the current squad with 86 appearances for the country.
“Personally I would like to apologise to the nation on behalf of the team for not going through. We did everything we could but it was not good enough on the day. We took the game to them, attacked them very well but they were solid. They got one move and they punished us, and then the penalty that killed us.”
Tshabalala said the players, just like the nation, are hurting over the results.
“It is very sad that we find ourselves here, but we have to move on and be strong mentally. It is always disappointing when we don’t deliver especially with the nation rallying behind us. We cannot point fingers at anybody but we need to forge ahead, hopefully we will be a better team going forward,” added the midfielder.
“It is honestly hurting – we are hurting and we know the nation is also hurting, and we are not proud of not doing well but we just have to apply ourselves better in future.”
Source: Safa
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Sorry for the early exit - Tshabalala
We did everything we could but it was not good enough on the day. We took the game to them, attacked them very well but they were solid.
Bafana Bafana midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala has apologised to the nation following the national team’s early exit from the 2014 CHAN tournament.
South Africa lost 3-1 to Nigeria in their final Group A match played at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday, 19 January.
Bafana Bafana were outplayed and out-muscled off the park by a Nigerian side that needed nothing but victory to proceed to the last eight of the tournament.
South Africa needed a draw, but it was not to be. Tshabalala reflected on the match and apologised for the early exit.
“It is very disappointing that we are out of the tournament being the hosts. We were hoping to advance to the quarterfinals and go all the way to the finals. So we are very disappointed that we lost to Nigeria. They had their chances and took them, we did our best in terms of creating scoring chances but their goalkeeper was one of the best players on the park and denied us numerous times. We are not happy that we conceded three goals,” said Tshabalala, the most capped player in the current squad with 86 appearances for the country.
“Personally I would like to apologise to the nation on behalf of the team for not going through. We did everything we could but it was not good enough on the day. We took the game to them, attacked them very well but they were solid. They got one move and they punished us, and then the penalty that killed us.”
Tshabalala said the players, just like the nation, are hurting over the results.
“It is very sad that we find ourselves here, but we have to move on and be strong mentally. It is always disappointing when we don’t deliver especially with the nation rallying behind us. We cannot point fingers at anybody but we need to forge ahead, hopefully we will be a better team going forward,” added the midfielder.
“It is honestly hurting – we are hurting and we know the nation is also hurting, and we are not proud of not doing well but we just have to apply ourselves better in future.”
Source: Safa
Note to our readers:
Dear valued readers, please note that the comments have been de-activated for a few days as we are busy upgrading to make the functionality a better experience for you.
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