Bafana Bafana forward Percy Tau has taken the blame upon himself after their 1-0 defeat by Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations Group D opener on Monday.

Jonathan Kodjia made up for missing a gilt-edged chance in the first half with a 65th-minute winner in the Group D contest after being set up by former Leeds player Max Gradel in Cairo.

The South African national side currently occupy the bottom of Group D as they look to bounce back when they take on Namibia in their second game on Friday.

Tau highlighted areas where South Africa should have done better while showing his maturity as a player by shouldering the blame for their opening defeat.

‘I think if we got our touches in attack it was going to be better, but then we couldn’t do that and we couldn’t get into the game,’ Tau told the media after the match.

‘I couldn’t get into the match, but I don’t think [it was because] they were too physical – that’s what we expected.

‘If we got our plan right, it was going to be a different story. I don’t think, if you look at them, you’ll see a huge difference [to us].

‘But if we did our attack properly, it was going to be a different story. As good as they are, we could have done better in our attack and it wouldn’t have been 1-0.’

The diminutive forward, who netted four goals during the six qualifying matches, further excused the performance as ‘first-match jitters’, vowing to improve in their next Group D encounter with Cosafa rivals Namibia.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns star believes they will correct their mistakes and improve their game when they take on the Brave Warriors.

‘But this was the first match; I think in the second match we’ll see a lot of improvement from us, and from myself also,’ he added.

‘We are also excited to play against Namibia, and we look forward to the match. We just have to watch our own game and see what it is that we needed to do much better in our attack. And to defend better as a team, [even though] I think we did that well.’

Bafana Bafana against Namibia kicks off at 10pm.