‘We weren’t good enough to beat Eagles’ — South Africa’s coach admits

Head coach of Bafana Bafana of South Africa admitted that his side was not good enough to defeat the Super Eagles in the quarter-final of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Nigeria soared into the semi-finals of the 32nd AFCON finals after an unlikely William Troost-Ekong winner two minutes to full time at the Cairo International Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Udinese centre-back struck in the 89th minute to seal a 2-1 win for the three-time African champions.

Samuel Chukwueze opened the scoring for Nigeria in the first half only for Bongani Zungu to level in the second half after VAR intervened.

Baxter revealed in the post-match press conference that his side left themselves exposed after restoring parity in the 70th minute of play.

“I think before the game, we were quite defensive we will be admitting that we are not good enough to beat Nigeria,” Baxter said.

“Nigeria were always dangerous. They were really well organized, they had good players.

“But we scored but despite the fact that Nigeria won they should be praised.

“I think if we had the chance to win the game, this is a tournament, you get nothing for a draw.

“So, we kept on pushing with leaving ourselves too exposed.

“But the goal came from a set play which we could not deal with and I don’t think we could close up the game better than that.

“And I think in a tournament you got to take that chance.”

Baxter tipped the Super of Eagles as one of the favourites to win the 2019 AFCON title.

“But congrats to Gernot Rohr and his team, I’m sure they’ll be one of the teams fighting for the trophy at the end.

“I think if we have been battered, then maybe I will be happy to just close the game down.

“But we got back into the game, therefore we were on the front footing.

“So, we had the obligation to the game of football to try to be positive in that circumstance.”

Super Eagles await the winner of the tie between Algeria and Cote d’Ivoire in the semi finals at Suez stadium, Suez on Thursday evening.