Former Bafana Bafana midfielder Teko Modise has criticised Hugo Broos' substitutions in South Africa's 2-1 AFCON defeat to Cameroon, saying key decisions were taken too late, while Steven Pienaar criticised the wastefulness in front of goal.
Bafana's AFCON dream came to an end courtesy of goals either side of half-time from Junior Tchamadeu and Christian Kofane. Substitute Evidence Makgopa pulled one back for Bafana late on, but they were left to rue several missed opportunities.
Former Everton and Tottenham winger Steven Pienaar -- whose Bafana career spanned from 2002-2012 -- wrote on X: "Well done boys. Those chances; if you don't take them, it will come back to [haunt] you.
"Cameroon [had] 2 chances. It's in the back of our net -- that's football for you. Take your chances and you play a different game. Overall, [it was a] good performance."
As Modise, who played for Bafana from 2007-2012, saw it; Bafana also paid for poorly-timed substitutions.
"Cameroon [go 2-0 up in the] 47th minute, your first changes are at 62 minutes, and you are still playing with five at the back, and you are just against one striker," Modise said while reviewing the game for SuperSport TV.
"I think there was no sense of urgency from the bench, after conceding that second goal, that's when you are supposed to make those changes.
"Those changes - yes, later on they became profitable, but imagine if he had done them earlier, because now you are 2-0 down. This is a knockout phase; it's not the group stages anymore."
Broos had started the game with three specialist centre-backs -- Mbekezeli Mbokazi, Siyabonga Ngezana and Nkosinathi Sibisi. However, Modise pointed out that Bafana were still overrun late in the first half and early in the second.
"Now you are in the knockout phase, you are conceding with five at the back, you take out [Sibisi] late in the game when you still have five at the back," he said.
"You played [Aubrey] Modiba as a wing back, now he comes back as a left back, you played [Mbekezeli] Mbokazi as a left back, now he comes back as a left centre-back again. [Broos] made those changes a little bit late in the game.
"I just wish Hugo Broos had taken those types of risks earlier. We spoke about the risks that Bafana is supposed to have taken when Egypt was [down to 10 men in their 1-0 group stage win over South Africa in Agadir].
"Yet again, we are conceding two goals [with half the game remaining]... We are supposed to take risks because there are no opportunities to do so, and we have failed to do so."
Winger Tshepang Moremi replaced Sibisi in the 83rd minute, but this was a decision which Modise felt came too late in the game.
"These are the lessons we should be learning: we need to take certain risks, we need to trust the players around the bench. Moremi could have come earlier," he said.
"That would have made a difference. Modiba came in with those crosses, and you look at the problems that Makgopa caused Cameroon. I just wish those changes were done earlier."