Bafana Bafana captain Siyanda Xulu wants his side to bring their pride back by beating Namibia in the Cosafa Cup plate semi-final on Tuesday.

Stuart Baxter’s men suffered a 4-3 penalties defeat at the hands of Madagascar in the quarter-final at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Sunday.

Xulu says the team is disappointed to have lost to Madagascar, but he believes Bafana should’ve done better on home soil.

‘It was a fair game, we had some opportunities and if we had buried them we would be talking a different language now – but it’s part of the game and we all know that if you don’t convert your chances you end up losing the game. In terms of the performance of individuals and of the team it was also fair – we should have done better, but then again you must remember we only had a few days to assemble the squad,’ Xulu told Safa.net.

‘It is a huge disappointment because we really wanted to win and it’s a bit difficult for us because we are playing at home.

‘On the other side we have another game coming up and so we have to soldier on. We have to be professionals, there is no other way we can try and change this now, whatever mistakes we did, whatever corrections we need to do we have to do it in the next match.’

The Bafana captain has urged his team to ‘bring back their pride’ and pick themselves up and prepare for their next challenge against Namibia in the plate semi-final at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium.

‘The main prize is gone, we have to bring back our pride and we have to do that against Namibia. It’s a bitter pill to swallow for now but we have to face another challenge, so we need to soldier on,’ he added.

Bafana Bafana faces Namibia at 5pm.