South African defender, Siyanda Xulu says he is happy with the team’s performance and the progress they have shown in their time at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023.Bafana Bafana reached the semi-finals of the competition where they were disappointingly knocked out by Nigeria on Wednesday evening in Bouake.##NAJAVA_MECA_7862738##This was the first semi-final appearance since 2000 by Hugo Broos’ charges who will now contest the third-place play-off against the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, 10 February in Abidjan.Speaking ahead of the clash with the Leopards, Xulu said he was proud of the progress made by the team and the impressive performance shown at the competition.“We had our own goal as a team. We wanted to go as far as we could. We know very well of our quality and especially from the coach who is one person who has always believed in us as a team. To go this far was our objective. Reaching the semi-final is a dream. Yes, we wanted to take it home, but we couldn’t, but we can be proud of the performance,” said Xulu.AFCON 2023: Ivory Coast coach revels in team’s resurrectionThe last time the 1996 champions played the third and fourth play-off was in 2000 where they won 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw against Tunisia.Meanwhile, Broos says the fight for a bronze medal will be more of a mental battle than anything.Nwabali deflects hero status onto Nigeria teammatesAccording to the Belgian tactician who guided South Africa to their first semi-final since 2000, the key to clinching a third place will be in how they mentally recover from the heart-breaking semi-final loss.“We played a very good game against Nigeria. It was a great performance and we showed that we are a great team again. When you exit after 120 minutes, it’s always a huge disappointment. When you play so good, the disappointment is so big. The game tomorrow is special. It depends a bit on which team will be mentally recovered because also for DRC, it was difficult to lose like that,’ he told CAF Online.Bafana Bafana were edged 4-2 by Nigeria after a dramatic 1-1 draw in Bouake while the Leopards were edged 1-0 after a hard-fought encounter with the hosts, Cote d’Ivoire.
