Durban - Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has criticized the refereeing following his team’s 1-0 defeat to Ghana in their final World Cup qualification group stage game at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The result meant that Ghana advanced to the third round of qualification while Bafana are set to miss out on the World Cup.
"I congratulate Ghana but I congratulate my boys also because we played against a very aggressive opponent which the referee allowed," Broos said.
"I am very disappointed in the result but I'm proud of my players. But I have to say, the referee today allowed Ghana to be too aggressive.
"I have nothing against aggressive play but it has to be legal aggression."
Andre Ayew scored the only goal of the game for Ghana in the first half after Rushine De Reuck was adjudged to have brought down Daniel Amartey in the area. Replays have shown that the decision given by referee Ndiaye Maguette was poor.
"I couldn't see it. I just saw Daniel Amartey go down. He went down many times during the game, but I didn't see the incident. But I saw my players were surprised."
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While Bafana will miss out on both the upcoming editions of the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations, Broos does believe that the experience would have made them a better side.
“Look, we came here to try to play a good game, to play a draw or maybe win. When you are so close, and you're in the position we were in, we tried to do it. But again, we played against a very strong team, and the team with 10 times more experience than we have, at the moment. We are a new team, so you cannot blame South Africa not to be qualified for the next round. Not at all, but you can be sure that there is a team again in South Africa, and that will try to qualify for the next Africa Cup of Nations finals (in Ivory Coast in 2023),” he said.