2023 AFCON: ‘Football Can Be Hard’, South Africa Coach Laments After Losing To Nigeria

The head coach of South Africa, Hugo Broos has described football as “hard” after his team lost to the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the 2023 AFCON semi-final stage.

South Africa were arguably the best team in the game against the star-studded Super Eagles as they dominated play and created a series of goalscoring opportunities.

Unfortunately, they only scored Nigeria via a penalty kick after a dramatic VAR check which canceled Victor Osimhen’s goal before awarding the spot-kick to the Bafana Bafana.

Before the 90th-minute equalizer, the Super Eagles had taken the lead after the hour mark via a spot-kick from the boots of William Troost-Ekong.

After the regulation time and 30 minutes of extra time, the game was decided by a penalty shootout in which Eagles’ goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali saved two of Bafana Bafana’s four kicks.

After the game, South Africa’s head coach said: “Football can be hard; when you see the performance of my team today and then there are penalties and you lose the game! you’re not in the final, it’s hard to accept that because we played a very good game.

“So if we could score there, it’s us going to the final and not Nigeria, that can happen in football.”

At 9 p.m. on Saturday, February 10, South Africa will face DR Congo in the third-place match. A day after, Nigeria face Ivory Coast in the 2023 AFCON final at 9 p.m.

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