Bafana take plenty from defeat against Brazil

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jun 26, 2009, 8:00 GMT

Johannesburg - Although South Africa lost their Confederations Cup semi-final match against Brazil 1-0, players agreed that they could leave with their heads held high.

Captain Aaron Mokoena, who gave away the 88th minute free-kick that led to substitute Daniel Alves scoring the only goal of the game at Ellis Park on Thursday night, said that Bafana Bafana (which means young boys) had learnt a lot for next year's World Cup.

'It is all about taking the qualities from this tournament and moving them to the World Cup,' he said.

'We are building a team. This was a dress rehearsal and we did fantastic, so it is all about moving on with the confidence from this tournament.

'We still have a lot of games to play before the World Cup. So hopefully we will be ready for the World Cup.'

'I am very proud of the performance of the young boys. They managed to go out there and play under pressure. And even if we had a lot of people out there supporting the young boys, we had a lot of people who did not believe in us.

'But the team carried themselves and did the country proud. That for us means really that we are grown ups now, we are no more youngsters.'

Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar said the 2010 World Cup hosts had been well-prepared for the big game. But he agreed with most others that SOuth Africa also paid the price for missing their chances.

'We were more relaxed in the game as we knew what to expect,' he said. 'The one thing that we need to do better is that we should have been more clinical in front of goals, but that is part of football. Every new game you learn new things and you grow.'

Midfielder Teko Modise said that the side had gone into the match wanting to take the Brazilians on and believing they could match them.

'In the second half we did not push forward so much because we concentrated on not making mistakes to not let them score. They only managed to score from a set piece as we did not allow them many opportunities.

'We knew that if we defended well we were in with a chance. We knew that we would create a lot of opportunities and that is exactly what we did, but unfortunately, we did not score.'

The CEO of the South African local organizing committee, Danny Jordaan, said that Bafana had played some of their best football for a long time against Brazil.

'We have a team,' he said enthusiastically but: 'One thing is missing: We cannot get the ball in the net!'

The hosts now take on Spain in the play-off for third place in Rustenburg in Sunday's early game, while Brazil face the US in Sunday's championship match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.