It still hurts - Percy Tau reacts to missed penalty and owns up

Tau, stepped up to take the penalty at the Amadou don Coulibaly stadium in Khorogo after Evidence Makgopa was found to have been elbowed inside the box by Sikou Niakate.

After missing the penalty, the Al Ahly attacker still had some chances in the first half and says it’s a difficult result to accept.

READ: Bafana Bafana suffer disappointing loss to Mali in AFCON opener

"This is not the start we wanted but then now we just have to regroup and go again against Namibia. We know it's gonna be a difficult one again also but then it just hurts right now," Tau said.

Around the 18th minute when Tau missed the penalty, Bafana were buzzing and still finished the first half with the greatest number of shorts at goal and dominant the attacks.

Tau says his missed penalty brought the Malians back to the game.

"I mean, we should have scored a goal, I missed a penalty then it gave them the confidence to keep going. If we scored a goal, it was gonna be a better game and it was gonna change the game entirely but a missed penalty is not nice. We still have six points to play for and ya, we'll give our best, we want to go through," Tau added.

Bafana’s next game is against neighbours Namibia on Sunday, a win there could put them in a good position to still come out of the group with another good result against Tunisia next Wednesday. 

Bafana defender Siyanda Xulu, who has been on the receiving end of criticism after the two goals that were conceded last night, also agrees with head coach Hugo Broos that Mali’s physical strength overpowered Bafana in the second half.

"I think most of the battles they did win it because they are a very physical side but it's something that they knew very well that we can never try and compete physically with them, that's why we were trying to move the ball as quickly as we can because strength is one of the factors that they have as a country," Xulu said.