Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has defended his team's performance in Friday's 0-0 draw with Nicaragua at Orlando Stadium in their last home friendly before the FIFA World Cup.
Broos claimed that Nicaragua did not provide the sort of exercise he wanted for his team, calling their defensive approach "negative". South Africa had 85% of the possession and 22 shots, with Lyle Foster hitting the post from a penalty.
"Maybe, it will surprise you a little bit when I say that I'm happy with the performance of the team even though the result was not what we expected," Broos told journalists on Friday.
"It was a very, very difficult game today against a very, very negative opponent. Those guys; I don't know what they came to do here, but it was just defending and kicking the ball in front.
"That means that we had to be patient and then try to find the spaces and the opportunities. There were some opportunities, certainly in the second half. If we scored that penalty, maybe it could have been another game, but in the last 15 minutes, one after another [in the Nicaragua team] is [down and claiming to be] injured, and it was like they played the final of the World Cup.
"That was not the goal today for us. We would like to have had a good opponent to try to play football. [I feel] a little bit of disappointment about the opponent, but I am happy with the performance of my team."
Broos praised the performances of winger/right-back Kamogelo Sebelebele, centre-back Olwethu Makhanya and winger/forward Thapelo Maseko - all of whom were included in his World Cup squad despite not being at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco.
Sebelebele played on the right wing in front of Thabang Matuludi, who started at right-back, and Broos was pleased, too, with the Polokwane City star's performance, having felt he suffered from nerves in previous national team games.
He retains faith in Foster to overcome his own dip in confidence, with Broos suggesting that the Burnley striker only needs significant game time and the feeling that his teammates are behind him in order to return to his best form.
Bafana Bafana will kick off their FIFA World Cup Group A fixtures against Mexico on June 11 in Mexico City before subsequent fixtures against Czechia in Atlanta on June 18 and South Korea in Guadalupe on June 24 (with kick-off in their final game set for 3AM SAST on June 25).
