South Africa beat Namibia 4-0 in Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations fixture in Ivory Coast.

Percy Tau’s penalty opened the scoring before Themba Zwane scored on either side of half-time. Thapelo Maseko capped the final scoreline in the 75th minute.

“We know, and I said it already several times, when Themba plays well the team plays good. And that was today the case with the maestro in the midfield, Themba,” said Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos.

“We saw it today again. Even it was not really his football. Themba is the man with the combination but he knew where to go and we could always give the ball to him.

“If it wasn’t for him, over the two wings also, Percy and Thapelo, the guys who went deep and that hurt the defence of Namibia and again I’m very happy, not only about the result but also the way because this was not South African football.”

South Africa lost 2-0 to Mali earlier in the tournament. Sunday’s result pushed them to second position in Group E. They will play Tunisia on Wednesday.

“I think the boys learned their lesson. We had a debriefing two days after the Mali game and we showed the things we shouldn’t do anymore,” added Broos.

“That’s what we did, maybe our football was more realistic and I’m happy for that – that we know also it doesn’t always have to be nice football and good combination, technique and style – no.”

Bafana Bafana won the AFCON title in 1996 and were runners-up in 1998.