Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has revealed the reason behind his side suffering a 2-0 defeat to Mali in their opening Africa Cup of Nations clash on Tuesday.

South Africa did not get the start they wanted after Percy Tau missed a first half penalty before Hamari Traoré and Lassine Sinayoko fired Mali over the line at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium.

The defeat sees Bafana sitting at the bottom of the Group E table while Mali sit in first place with three points after the first match.

Broos praised his team for their performance but underlined two factors that led to their defeat against Mali.

“I have to congratulate my team for the performance. I think we lost the game in two facts,” said Broos in a post-match interview.

“Firstly, is missing the penalty, and secondly is the physical power. Those reasons made us lose the game today.

“But the performance of South Africa was good, and I think if we scored the penalty, the game should have been different, but it’s okay.”

The Bafana mentor added that the Mali coach knew what to do in the second half to secure the win as they came out an even strong side.

“You know, we had chances, and we missed a penalty. I think the coach of Mali saw what they had to do. They were stronger in duels in the second half, and we couldn’t make our game anymore. That was because of the power of Mali,” he added.

“We lost balls on places we didn’t have to lose it. That made the second goal, and the game is finished. But again, I think the performance was good but not good enough.”

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