Durban - Bafana Bafana were annihilated 5-0 by France on Tuesday evening in Lille, a result that gave the South Africans a glimpse of what it takes to compete against the best in the world on the biggest stages.
Bafana had no answers against a ruthless French team, crumbling in front of 50 000 supporters that packed the Stade Pierre Mauron in Lille. Kylian Mbappe scored a brace for the home side during the demolition of South Africa.
Coach Hugo Broos, however, reiterated that his side's performance in a pressure situation against the world champions was the main focus rather than the big score against them.
"We knew coming into this game what we were coming up against. There was a difference of level between the two teams, but for us it wasn't about the result, it was about the experience we have gained here today," he said.
"We are a young team, therefore we don't have the experience and quality of the French team. We tried our best today but the talent of our opposition was just too much, so we are not embarrassed by this scoreline."
Bafana Captain, Ronwen Williams also opted for an optimistic reflection of their match against the world champions, and appreciated the lessons learnt over the two games.
"It was a wonderful experience for us as the players because we played the best players in the world. We can only get better as a team going forward."
"We do have a lot of positives from today's game and the entire camp so we will have to look at those as well while we also address the negatives as we prepare for the qualifiers in June," he explained.