Bafana Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo on defeat to Cameroon: Bafana players are fatigued and it showed in our Cameroon loss

Doctor Khumalo cites fatigue as the reason Bafana Bafana failed at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Khumalo, an Afcon winner with Bafana in 1996, said the players re notable to reach their peak level of even going to the final because they are overworked.

“I think what made this campaign different was, I was looking at some of the players. Most of the South African players were fatigued, I would tell you. I looked at Teboho Mokoena in the game against Zimbabwe, even against Cameroon; he was not the Teboho we know. He’s tired. And some of the players, I could also tell that they are tired because they played [CAF] Champions League, but that’s not an excuse,” Khumalo said.

Despite the 2-1 loss to Cameroon which knocked South Africa out of the 35th edition of this year’s continental spectacle, Khumalo was pleased with the team’s overall display in Morocco.

“I must say that I’m proud of the boys, they lost as a team and that’s a footballing problem because if you miss [scoring] chances, you are bound to lose the game,” Khumalo said.

“And also they tried their level best in the critical face of the match, 82 minutes, they scored the goal, but they were playing against the experienced Cameroon. I was wondering when they were going to change the formation from low block or medium block because all the teams that are playing South Africa were not pressing high, but we also didn’t have answers for dead-ball situations. We couldn’t deal with free-kicks and the corners.”