Enterprising playmaker Percy Tau said he is "indisputably hurt" after missing a penalty in South Africa's 2-0 defeat to Mali in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday night.
The 29-year-old saw his spot-kick go over the crossbar in a heart wrenching style with Bafana Bafana succumbing to a defeat in their Group E opener.
Mali went on to score twice after Tau missed Bafana's rare chance to go upfront and control the game. Captain Hamari Traore and Lassine Sinayoko scored the Eagles two goals which was enough to make South Africa go loco.
“This is not the start we wanted, if we scored a goal, I mean if we scored the penalty it could have changed the game, but we missed it so we prolonged the game [from controlling it],” Tau told iDiski Times about his penalty.
“It hurts, at the moment it still hurts [missing that penalty] I’ll try, I’ll try and get it out of [my system] because we still have two games to play and I’ll try and get the results.
“Yes [I’m confident we can progress] even though it hurts right now.”
Percy Tau has now missed three from his six career penalties that he has taken for South Africa and his club teams.
By: Pascal Amoah
