Molefi Ntseki relieved after Bafana Bafana overcome Guinea

The National Elephants were all over the South Africans, who were made to sweat for their first three-point haul at the tournament and, had it not been for the crossbar, could very well have taken at least a point away from the match.

Ntseki, speaking to the media after the match, acknowledged the result came as a huge boost heading into their remaining two group matches against Niger and co-hosts Uganda.

"Congratulations to South Africa for winning such an important game because if we were to draw or to lose this game, we were to be under massive pressure. So, the four points that we are carrying now gives us confidence and belief that we are still on the right track,” Ntseki said. 

“I just want to congratulate the players for the hard work they put into this game. I want to congratulate the technical team and every member of the South African team because we stick together, we lose together, we win together and that was very big today."

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Noting how Bafana were not the better team on the day, Ntseki emphasised that his side did what mattered most while the Guineans walked away with nothing for their superior performance.

"At the end of the day, Guinea played the game, we scored the goals and what is important for us was to score the goals and win the game,” he added.

“We are very pleased with the results but there's still a lot of work that we still need to do but as for Guinea I think they came at us after we scored the first goal which was a very beautiful goal in terms of our preparation."