Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund admitted that he felt immense pride following his side's qualification for the quarter-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
The South Africans secured their passage into the next phase of the competition courtesy of a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Morocco and it is the first time since 2002 that they have made it out of the group stage of the tournament.
"We feel very, very proud" said Igesund. "We did what we had to do and achieved our first objective. We can now look forward to our next game and the next 20 hours we're just going to relax."
While the hosts did what was required, there is some reason for concern heading into the knockout stages as Morocco were able to pry open the South African defence on a numerous occasions, with only a man-of-the-match display from goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune keeping the score to two goals.
However, Igesund would not be drawn into talk of weakness in his squad, instead looking to focus on the positives.
"I wasn't happy in the first-half, because the first goal they scored was a free header, which shouldn't happen at this level," he explained.
"We got a beautiful goal to come back, and then once we were level we went back into defence and they scored their second goal. We had to dig really deep for the result today."
When asked whether his side could now emulate the achievement of their 1996 counterparts and win the title, Igesund's answer was simple: "Of course I believe we can, I've believed all along."
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