2024-01-17 10:14:00
South Africa coach Hugo Bruce refused to blame his striker Percy Tau for taking responsibility for taking a penalty kick once morest Mali.
Tau missed an early penalty kick before the boys conceded two goals, giving Mali a 2-0 win in their opening match at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
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Bruce said in statements to reporters: “The responsibility for taking penalty kicks is assumed by three players, namely Aubrey Modiba, Teboho Mokoena and Percy Tau.”
The Belgian added, “They make the decision on the field. The matter is not up to me. The person who feels he is at his best steps forward to take the penalty kick.”
He continued, “I think that Tao shouldered this responsibility and we cannot blame him for that, because executing a penalty kick is not an easy matter, but it changed the match.”
The South African coach continued, “I must congratulate my team on the performance it gave once morest Mali.”
He continued, “I think we lost the match for two reasons. The first was missing the penalty kick. The second reason was the physical strength of the Malian national team, especially in the second half.”
He concluded, “These reasons made us lose the match, but the South African team’s performance was good, and I believe that if we had scored the penalty kick, the match would have been different.”
South Africa won a penalty kick that Percy Tau saved, but he shot the ball wide of the goal.
This is the second time that Percy Tau has missed a penalty kick.
Throughout his career, Percy Tau took only 3 penalty kicks, the first of which he scored with South Africa once morest Sao Tome.
He missed the second with Al-Ahly once morest Al-Ittihad of Alexandria, and he missed the third in the ongoing match with South Africa once morest Mali.
The Mali national team, nicknamed the “Eagles,” punished Percy Tau, the South African player, following missing a penalty kick.
Hamare Traoré and Lassine Senayoko scored Mali’s goals within six minutes of the second half.
The meeting was moderated by Egyptian referee Mohamed Adel.
The Mali national team topped the group following the end of the first round, ahead of Namibia on goal difference, while the South African and Tunisia national teams had no points.
The Mali national team will play once morest Tunisia in the second round on Saturday, while South Africa will face the Namibia national team.
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