Johannesburg - Ghana stand-in captain Asamoah Gyan praised Bafana Bafana after the Black Stars lost 1-0 on Wednesday night.
Gallery: Bafana v Ghana
The World Cup quarter-finalists struggled to match the home side at FNB Stadium in the first period and were made to pay as Katlego Mphela grabbed the only goal of the game in the 41st minute.
Gyan believes his charges improved in the second period but admits that their first-period showing was not good enough.
"I think we started the game very slow and the South Africans took control of the game in the first-half," the 24-year-old said after the match.
"We went back (at the break) and we changed our type of play and we came back into the game, so you could see it was a balanced game in the second-half.
"They did very well in the first-half and I congratulate them on the victory."
The match at Soccer City represented Ghana's first trip back to South Africa following their heartbreaking World Cup quarter-final against Uruguay at the same venue over a month ago.
Gallery: Bafana v Ghana
The World Cup quarter-finalists struggled to match the home side at FNB Stadium in the first period and were made to pay as Katlego Mphela grabbed the only goal of the game in the 41st minute.
Gyan believes his charges improved in the second period but admits that their first-period showing was not good enough.
"I think we started the game very slow and the South Africans took control of the game in the first-half," the 24-year-old said after the match.
"We went back (at the break) and we changed our type of play and we came back into the game, so you could see it was a balanced game in the second-half.
"They did very well in the first-half and I congratulate them on the victory."
The match at Soccer City represented Ghana's first trip back to South Africa following their heartbreaking World Cup quarter-final against Uruguay at the same venue over a month ago.