Mixed emotions for South Africa coach after World Cup exit

LOS ANGELES, June 28 (Xinhua) -- South Africa coach Hugo Broos said Sunday he was disappointed by his team's World Cup round-of-32 exit but proud of them after reaching the knockout stage for the first time.

South Africa's historic campaign ended in a 1-0 defeat to Canada at Los Angeles Stadium after midfielder Stephen Eustaquio scored a stoppage-time winner.

"It was a difficult game, but I knew beforehand because I analyzed the opponent," Broos said at the post-match press conference. "They have power and speed. We hoped we had an answer for that, but that was not always the case."

Broos, aged 74 years and 79 days, became the oldest coach to oversee a team in a FIFA World Cup knockout match.

"You saw situations in the game where we could not keep up, and in the duels, man against man, we lost sometimes, or most of the time. We have to work on power and speed in South Africa," he said.

"I don't have any complaints about the mentality, but I think we can look back on this tournament with happiness because we reached the second round. I don't think anybody expected that before the tournament."

South Africa recovered from a 2-0 opening defeat to co-host Mexico to draw 1-1 with Czechia before beating South Korea 1-0, finishing second in Group A to qualify for the World Cup knockout stage for the first time.

"It hurts now because we wanted to win today. It's a disappointment, and it's very quiet in the dressing room at the moment," Broos said.

"But on the other hand, we have to be honest. We did very well in our first World Cup in 16 years. We reached the second round." Enditem