Cape Town City coach, Eric Tinkler, has urged South African defender Rushine de Reuck to 'stay strong' after conceding a decisive penalty against Ghana.
South Africa needed to avoid defeat at Cape Coast to secure qualification to the final round of World Cup qualifiers. However, de Reuck brought down Daniel Amartey resulting in a penalty which was expertly converted by Andre Ayew.
In an interview with South African publication TimesLIVE, Tinkler had some words of encouragement for de Reuck.
"I feel for him, especially knowing that should never have been a penalty. I know how he feels. I qualified SA for two World Cups and didn’t go to one. And that was probably my biggest disappointment in my career," he said.
“But he’s a strong character. He comes from a very difficult background. And he’ll get over it. He’s strong enough mentally to get over it.”
“Be strong. Don’t blame yourself because it’s definitely not your fault. But these things happen in football. Us coaches get hired and fired on bad decisions of referees sometimes.
“That’s the world we live in, that’s professional sport. There as to be a winner and a loser. Sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it's not. But you’ve got to get up and go again.”
South Africa will also miss out on the 2021 AFCON which will be played in January.