2024-01-17 10:21:14
African Nations – South Africa coach: We cannot blame Tau for taking the penalty kick against Mali
South Africa coach Hugo Bruce refused to blame his striker Percy Tau for taking responsibility for the penalty kick against Mali.
Tau missed a penalty kick before conceding twice to give Mali a 2-0 win in their opening match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
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Bruce said in statements to reporters: “The responsibility for executing penalty kicks falls on three players: Aubrey Modiba, Teboho Mokoena and Percy Tau.”
The Belgian added: “They make the decision on the field. It’s not in my hand. The person who feels he is at his best forward takes the penalty kick.”
He continued: “I think Tau bore that responsibility and we cannot blame him for that because executing the penalty kick is not an easy task, but it changed the game.”
The South African coach continued: “I must congratulate my team on the performance it gave against Mali.”
He continued: “I think we lost the match for two reasons. The first was missing the penalty kick, and 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 think if we had scored the penalty kick, the match would have been different.”
South Africa won a penalty kick which was saved by Percy Tau but he shot wide of the target.
This is the second time Percy Tau has missed a penalty kick.
Throughout his career, Percy Tau took only 3 penalty kicks, the first of which was scored by South Africa against Sao Tome.
He missed the second match with Al-Ahly against Al-Ittihad of Alexandria, and he also missed the third match in the ongoing match with South Africa against Mali.
The Mali national team, nicknamed the “Eagles”, punished South African player Percy Tau, after missing a penalty kick.
Hamare Traoré and Lassine Senayoko scored Mali’s goals six minutes into the second half.
The meeting was moderated by Egyptian referee Mohamed Adel.
The Malian team topped the group at the end of the first stage, ahead of Namibia on goal difference, while the South African and Tunisia teams did not have any points.
The Mali national team will play with Tunisia in the second round on Saturday, while the South African national team will face the Namibia national team.
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