Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is proud of his team but admits “it’s hard to accept not being in the final” of the Africa Cup of Nations.

South Africa’s journey in the AFCON came to an end after they conceded a 4-2 defeat in a penalty shootout in the semi-final.

Bafana are now set to face DR Congo in the third place playoff on Saturday, February 10.

The Belgian tactician felt his side were the better team on the day and believed they deserved to be in the final.

“Football can be hard sometimes, when you see the performance of my team today, and then there is penalties, and then you lose the penalties and you are not in the finals, it’s hard to accept that because we play very good game today.

“I think we were the best team in the first half, we got the best chances, Nigeria didn’t have any chance. Second half they have few chances which resulted in a goal and we changed something tactically, and we could comeback.

“We created more chances which means if we had scored, we would have been in the final and not Nigeria.

“It’s a big disappointment for everyone, we believe we played a very good game, not just today but throughout the tournament.

“I’m proud of my players, the disappointment is this but the proudness is that,” he concluded.

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