Mokoena shoulders blame after heartbreaking World Cup exit

Stephen Eustáquio struck deep into stoppage time to send the North Americans through, leaving the Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder devastated at the final whistle.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Mokoena took responsibility for the decisive moment, revealing he felt he should have closed down Eustáquio sooner to prevent the winning goal.

"I could've done better because I was behind the guy who scored that goal. We played in patches, but we really can't fault the effort from the guys because we fought until the final whistle."

READ: Julian Nagelsmann vows 'to stay in charge' after Germany's World Cup collapse

Bafana coach Hugo Broos’ assessment was that his charges were not aggressive enough and lost most of the duels with Canada. 

Mokoena went further, suggesting they didn’t test their opponents enough. 

The Bethlehem-born midfielder said they paid no attention to the boos from the crowd when constantly playing the ball back. He also spoke out about the need to rest now. 

"All I'm thinking about right now is to go back home, relax, and then we'll take it from there."