We were very positive about qualification - South Africa coach Ntseki

Molefi Ntseki, the head coach of the Bafana Bafana says South Africa at the beginning of the qualifying games was confident of booking a place at the next AFCON tournament in Cameroon.

Ntseki was speaking after Bafana Bafana's 2-0 defeat in Sudan on Sunday night which meant they will miss out on competing in next year's AFCON in Cameroon.

"It's a big disappointment for all of us. If you look at how we started, we were very positive and looking forward to qualifying," Ntseki said.

"If you look at the games we won, we became very confident to qualify. The expectations were created to say the team will do well against Ghana at home and against Sudan away,"

He mentioned that the draw against Ghana in Johannesburg took them further back in their quest to place second in the group.

"Drawing against Ghana made life very difficult for us coming in Sudan. We knew it would be a foreign land with foreign challenges,"

"The travelling also, having to travel immediately after the game, one session preparation and then we play a match. The players tried very hard and we also tried very hard to put everything together with the analysis of Sudan and our own analysis against Ghana," he added.