South Africa coach Hugo Broos rejected suggestions his team had regressed after they exited the Africa Cup of Nations in the last 16 against Cameroon on Sunday, and turned his focus towards the approaching World Cup.
A 2-1 defeat against the Indomitable Lions in Rabat ended Bafana Bafana’s campaign in the first knockout round, two years after they finished third at the last AFCON in Ivory Coast.
“We don’t go backwards — maybe in some games performances were not at the level of South Africa that everyone knows, but you can’t say that for today,” veteran Belgian coach Broos said, insisting fortune had not favoured his team against Cameroon.
They qualified from their group in second place behind Egypt, claiming narrow and unconvincing wins against Angola and Zimbabwe, either side of a defeat against the Pharaohs.
“Sometimes you need luck on your side, and two years ago in the quarter-final against Cape Verde, Ronwen Williams made a big save, otherwise, we could have lost that game,” Broos added.
“Today we didn’t have luck on our side. We are not going backwards, but we do have to make a good evaluation of what happened here at this tournament as we look forward to the World Cup.”
South Africa have qualified for the World Cup for the first time since hosting the tournament in 2010.
They topped their qualifying section ahead of Nigeria and will face co-hosts Mexico in the opening game on June 11 before also taking on South Korea and a European play-off winner in the group phase.
Their next matches will be friendly games in March as they step up preparations for the finals in North America.
“In the next days and weeks we will make an evaluation in detail on what was good and not good, and we will see what we have to change because the World Cup is in six months and we need to be ready for that,” Broos said.
“We will see that we are ready in March to play those friendlies and be well prepared for the World Cup.”
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