South Africa coach Hugo Broos has revealed he doesn’t decide who takes the penalty for the team after they suffered a 2-0 defeat against Mali in their Africa Cup of Nations opener at the Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium on Tuesday.
After dominating the early proceedings, Bafana Bafana got the chance to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty in the 19th minute after a VAR review but Al Ahly striker Percy Tau blew the chance by blazing his effort over the bar.
The Eagles then scored through Sekou Koita and Lassine Sinayoko to earn the win in Korhogo. Speaking after the disappointing result, the 2017 tournament winner with Cameroon said Bafana have three penalty takers, who decide on who to take it and further refused to blame Tau for missing the kick.
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“There are three guys (three penalty takers) for the game, it was Aubrey [Modiba], [Teboho] Mokoena, and Percy [Tau]. And they decide on the pitch. It’s not up to me; the one who feels best has to take the penalty,” said Broos, adding: “I think Percy [Tau] took this responsibility and we can’t blame him for that, certainly not because taking a penalty is not easy. But it changed the game.”
He added: “I have to congratulate my team for the performance of today [Tuesday]. I think we lost the game in two facts, the first is missing the penalty. Secondly is the physical power, especially in the second half of Mali. Those reasons made us lose the game today but the performance of South Africa was good and I think if we scored the penalty the game would have been different.”
Bafana will next Namibia, who secured a historic 1-0 victory over Tunisia in the earlier kick-off at the Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly in Korhogo on Sunday.