Bafana Bafana coach Morena Ramoreboli admits it was a “very disappointing result” but was pleased with his side’s showing despite their defeat to Zambia in the semi-finals of the Cosafa Cup.

South Africa failed to reach the final of the Cosafa Cup following their 2-1 defeat to Zambia at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Friday evening.

Tshegofatso Mabasa opened the scoring for Bafana but goals from Golden Mashata and Albert Kangwanda was enough to send Chipolopolo into the finals.

Bafana will now take on Malawi in the third place playoffs while Zambia will face off against Lesotho in the final of the competition.

“We lost it in the first-half. It is a very disappointing result but I am happy with the effort and I am proud of what the guys did from the beginning of the tournament until today, but it is just unfortunate that we could not go through to the final,” Ramoreboli told SuperSport TV after the game.

“We did almost everything to prove that we wanted to win but it is one of those matches where even if we played for the whole day, if it is not meant to be, it was not meant to be.”

South Africa are now set to face Malawi for the bronze medal when the two sides meet on Sunday.

“It will be a difficult game but we have 23 players with us and all of them have contributed to put us to the semi-final and they must all get an opportunity to play because I believe we were here to go to the final,” he added.

“Everyone who is here will get an opportunity to play and we have good players who can compete and at least get us the bronze medal.”