AFCONQ2021: South Africans are all disappointed – Bafana coach Ntseki

South Africa’s failure to qualify for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon has come as a bitter disappointment and brought a stinging rebuke from fans around the country.

A 2-0 loss in Sudan on Sunday sealed Bafana Bafana’s fate as they finished third in their pool, with the side needing a point to secure their place at the continental showpiece.

Coach Molefi Ntseki was understandably disappointed with the result, but says there have been mitigating factors to the failure.

You must be bitterly disappointed to have missed out on a place at the Africa Cup of Nations finals?

It is a disappointment for all of us if you look at how we started, we were very positive and looking forward to qualifying. If you look at the games we won, the points we accumulated, we became very confident and the expectations were created to say we would do well against Ghana at home [a 1-1 draw] and Sudan away.

Playing against Ghana at home, it made life very difficult very for ourselves coming into Sudan. We knew it would be a foreign land with foreign challenges. The travelling also … having to travel immediately after the [Ghana] game, one session preparation and then we play a match.

The boys tried very hard, we tried to put everything together after the analysis of Sudan and our own analysis of the Ghana game.

What went wrong against Sudan?

We started on the wrong foot. We conceded very early. The idea was not to concede, because we were very aware even before the game started that we were ‘in’ [the finals] because of the point we had in our bag.

But we allowed the Sudanese to take out the point we had and they ended up taking maximum points, which was a very big set-back for us to concede two goals in the first half. We missed chances, and missing chances does not win you games.

We saw what happened in the second half, we approached the game differently and made tactical changes and changes to our personnel.

But we could not get a goal or see ourselves getting an equaliser just to hold back on the point we had before the game started.

What does this mean for the team going forward?

The disappointment is not only for us, but the big disappointment is for the South African Football Association, because for Safa, the objective is very clear.

It is to see the team qualifying for every continental and world tournament so that we can put Bafana Bafana on the map again in terms of the type of football we play and the results we get.

Getting positive results also brings about good CAF and Fifa rankings and not qualifying has dented our image and possibilities of improving those rankings.

As passionate South Africans, the expectation obviously was for Bafana Bafana to qualify for Afcon. And maybe to do better than the last time we were in Afcon.

As players and coaches we are very much aware of the disappointment and emotional pain we have caused South Africans. The pain is more from us because we were almost there in Cameroon because of the points we accumulated.

What do you put this failure down to?

We need to be very honest with ourselves in terms of the challenges we faced coming into these matches.

We could not get our regular players for Bafana Bafana and again, with the players we brought in, who did very well against Ghana, we were looking forward to having those players for Sudan, but they were excused from the team because of injuries.

We had to start afresh in terms of bringing in new playing personnel. It is unfortunate, we are talking about a team that was almost about to qualify, but us not getting a point from Sudan, we are out of the tournament.

What does this mean for you personally?

As a head coach of Bafana Bafana, I came up with a turnaround strategy and everything started very well. We managed to accumulate the 10 points and we just needed one more to qualify.

As a coach and head of the selection committee and head of the team, my disappointment is huge.

It is huge for my personal growth and my personal achievements as a coach. The success of the team is also my success and the failure of the team starts with me, to say ‘I have failed as a coach’.

🎥 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒:

🇸🇩 Sudan 2-0 South Africa 🇿🇦

The Falcons of Jediane score twice, maintain a clean sheet, and qualify to the #TotalAFCON ✅#TotalAFCONQ2021 pic.twitter.com/2gwFA5ylF4

— CAF (@CAF_Online) March 28, 2021

Read Also: Afcon Qualifiers: Ghana win Group C after thrashing Sao Tome

In football, we need to own up because when there is success, you become everybody’s favourite, but when there is failure, you become an orphan and everybody is looking to say you failed the team.

But things like this do happen in football and we own up. We have to be strong to say, yes, the team did not qualify and I wanted as a South African to see my team playing at the Afcon. It is a big disappointment from my side.