Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter was full of praise for his side after they clinched the Cosafa Cup plate trophy, following a 1-0 win against Namibia on Friday evening.
The host nation of the tournament salvaged some pride, following their disappointing quarter-final loss against Tanzania, which condemned them to the losers section of the cup.
Baxter’s side overcame Botswana and Namibia in their semi-finals and the final of the tournament respectively to secure a fifth-place finish in the tournament.
The former SuperSport United mentor revealed his delight upon securing silverware, but admitted that the encounter wasn’t the easiest, owing to fatigue.
‘It’s a very tough 90 minutes at the end of tournament when the players have played their third game in five days and it asks a lot of them,’ he said in post-match comments.
‘But I thought they answered quite well tonight (Friday).
‘We decided before the game that the young ones would go on to finish and they had the responsibility to run the game out.
‘We had a bit of luck with the crossbar, but if we had a bit more composure, maybe we could have closed the game out a little earlier and Namibia worked very hard and they kept us under pressure.
‘The young ones went on and did OK. The experienced ones, in the beginning they showed that there is a place for experience,’ he concluded.
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