Percy Tau all but accepted responsibility for Bafana Bafana’s defeat to Mali in the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
Tau missed a penalty for South Africa in the first half before Hamari Traore and Lassine Sinayoko scored in the second to give Mali a 2-0 win.
“This is not the start we wanted,” said Tau.
“If we scored a goal, if we scored the penalty, it could have changed the game. But then we missed it. So, we prolonged the game. If we scored, it was going to change the game.
“We should have scored a goal. I missed a penalty, which gave them the confidence to keep going. If we scored a goal, it would be a better game, it would change the game entirely.”
South Africa’s next AFCON fixture will be against Namibia on Sunday. Namibia beat Tunisia 1-0 on Tuesday.
“I’ll try and gather myself because we still have two games to play. I still have hope that we will progress, even though it hurts right now,” added Tau.
“We just have to regroup and go again against Namibia. We know it’s going to be a difficult one again also.”
South Africa have not won the tournament since 1996. They were runners-up in 1998. Senegal are the reigning AFCON title holders.
