South Africa coach Gordon Igesund has questioned his side s ability to handle the pressure of the Africa Cup of Nations.
After creating precious little in their opening 0-0 draw with Cape Verde the smallest country in the competition with a population of only half a million Igesund was far from happy and made few excuses for Bafana Bafana s underwhelming performance.
Not too many of my players came to the party in the first half, which was a total waste of time. We weren t much better in the second, the 55-year-old told the BBC.
Too many balls were played over the top at 100 miles per hour, which is something we don t want to do. Some of the players seemed to freeze when the whistle blew and lost their nerve. Perhaps for some of them the occasion was a bit too big.
We now have to go for it in our next two games against Angola and Morocco. Of course we wanted to win and get a goal and get all three points, and we are not doomed yet. But we need to improve.
South Africa have now not won a match in the Africa Cup of Nations since 2004, having failed to register a victory in 2006 and 2008 and they did not qualify in 2010 and 2012.
However, Igesund also paid tribute to their opponents who are 70th in FIFA s rankings, 15 places higher than his side.
Credit to Cape Verde, he said.
They are a good, well-organised team and play like Europeans. They defended well, slowed the game right down in the second half and got the point they came looking for.
