Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter insists his side squandered a golden opportunity to seal a Fifa World Cup spot, following their back-to-back defeats to Cape Verde.

The South African national team failed to qualify for the 2018 edition of the World Cup after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Senegal in their Group D encounter on Friday.

The Bafana mentor says he is seeing lots of positives from this team, with a number of youngsters developing into potential future stars for the national team.

“I still believe we are not far off the top sides on the continent, despite having a frustrating evening during the Senegal game. Going forward, certain older players will have to be phased out, but I won’t make wholesale changes,” Baxter said.

“I still believe had we taken all our chances, we could be speaking a different story altogether. But those are the finer margins of winning and not winning.

“You play for pride and for your country.”

Bafana Bafana will be playing for pride when they take on Senegal in their final Fifa World Cup qualifier Group D encounter on Tuesday.