Broos hails Bafana Bafana for executing his game plan to advance to Afcon last 16

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has commended his troops for executing the game plan well in Wednesday's goalless draw against Tunisia at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium in Korhogo, Ivory Coast, saying the team did all he had asked them to do.

Bafana's stalemate against Tunisia, ranked third on the continent, was enough to earn them a slot in the round of 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). Ranked 12th by the CAF, South Africa finished second in group E and will face the first-ranked side on the continent, Morocco, in the knockout phase at San Pedro's Laurent Pokou Stadium on Tuesday (10pm SA time). 

“I don't have to tell you there's a happy coach sitting behind this microphone. I am not only happy because we've qualified for the next round, but I am also happy about the performance. The coach will always be satisfied when he sees his boys working and fighting on the pitch, doing what he'd asked,'' Broos said at a press conference after the game against Tunisia.

Broos also praised the bench for supporting the soldiers who were on the field. “I am also happy because I saw the bunch of guys on the bench doing as big as those on the field. They [the players who were on the bench] supported their teammates. Today [Tuesday] I saw a family, a team, who's just a unity.”

Broos chalked up their disciplined shift to the analysis they did on Tunisia, reasoning they deployed a cautious approach because Tunisia were well rested after playing their previous game on Saturday while Bafana played theirs on Sunday.

“We did a good analysis of Tunisia, so we played a bit low and we tried to be compact because we took into account we had one day less for recovery than them. That's why we chose that tactic and I think it was the right one. We were good in the block and Tunisia was nearly not dangerous all game long,'' Broos said.