Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was much happier with the display

Bafana Bafana scraped in to next year's Nations Cup as one of three best placed runners up, after the surprise 3-1 loss at the weekend.

Zambia have gone through as group winners.

South Africa, featuring four changes from the starting line up at the weekend, were hesitant in the first half, against a team lying forty places above them in the Fifa rankings.

But they improved in the second half, with Steven Pienaar and Benni McCarthy going close.

"I think everyone had stage fright, especially after the loss to Zambia", McCarthy said.

But coach Parreira seemed satisfied with the performance.

"I am fighting for us to play more games like this so that we can get better", he said.

"We are improving. The team has to keep the ball and not rush to score goals".