Bafana Bafana defender Aubrey Modiba admits the team must tighten up defensively ahead of the AFCON Round of 16 after conceding goals in all three group-stage matches.
South Africa have let in four goals while scoring five and finished second behind Egypt to qualify for the knockout stage.
Modiba says the team needs to defend better and also be more clinical in attack, noting that they have struggled in front of goal as well.
“We have conceded in every game that we have played, we must just make sure we concede less and score more goals,” Modiba told SABC Sport.
“We haven’t scored too many goals, and I think those are the things that we must work on going into the next round.
“Hopefully we can rectify that and make sure that we go all the way. But it gets tougher and tougher now, I don’t want to lie.”
The left-back says the team must do more to protect goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and help him keep clean sheets, acknowledging how crucial he has been for them in recent matches.
“We also have to do it for him because he has been saving us in some of the games,” he added.
“I think for us as defenders as well, we need to help him, not only defenders but we need to press from the top. Hopefully we can rectify that in the next game.”
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