Zizi Kodwa - Bafana Bafana will bounce back and make the nation proud

Speaking to SABC Sport in Khorogo, north of Côte d’Ivoire today, before he heads back home this afternoon after having attended the first game on Tuesday, Kodwa says the 2-0 loss to Mali was a rude awakening to the team.

But he does not doubt that in the next two matches against Namibia and Tunisia, the boys will do the job.

READ: Jean-Louis Gasset ready to unleash Cote d Ivoire poster boy Sebastien Haller

"We must be able to score and our defense must be strong but I think collectively as a team, we've got a very encouraging team of young men, who are really enthusiastic about representing South Africa and I'm happy that's where we are. I have no doubt that they will make it through the group stages,” Kodwa said.

“What I said to them is that this is a beginning, it's not the end. It has happened there are many examples both in FIFA and in the continent. The winner that lifted the trophy in 2010 [FIFA men’s World Cup] was Spain, Spain in South Africa, 2010 lost the opening match but it went through to lift the trophy. So, it happens."

Bafana’s first-half performance has won them some fans here in Khorogo, including Malians who attended the game, they believe that Hugo Broos’ team showed their quality, but missed chances and the penalty.

Kodwa says the brand of football displayed against Mali gives a lot of hope going forward.

"It does give hope and I must thank the technical team, I must thank the coach, Broos [Hugo] for allowing them to play what they know best. I mean most of our players they are introduced to football through street games and that is where they know about these short passes because the street game is not an open field, it's a street and that's how they learnt the game of football and I think that's worked,” Kodwa added.

“If you look throughout history when we played with the 1996 squad, when we played Doctor Khumalo, with Brazil, it was those short passes, only with the substitute of Doctor Khumalo which changed the game. I think we've got history with that carpet football and I think that carpet football is a South African DNA.

“I think the coach must stick to that, I'm not qualified to make technical advise to the coach but knowing South African football and I think it has won the hearts of many South Africans to see the kind of football they know being displayed in the continental level like the first half."