Bafana boss Hugo Broos was delighted with the performance of his side in the thrilling 3-3 draw with Algeria on Tuesday.
Yassine Benzia opened the scoring for the Desert Warriors after 22 minutes at Stade Nelson Mandela in Algiers.
Man of the Match Themba Zwane levelled with 34 minutes played and put his side in the lead on the stroke of half-time.
A goal from Yacine Brahimi in the 53rd minute, before Benzia’s second strike of the night after 70 minutes theatened to condemn South Africa to defeat until Iqraam Rayners found the back of the net with his effort with 66 minutes played.
It was a far more encouraging performance from the one a second-string side displayed in their 1-1 draw with Andorra last week, and Broos heaped praise on both sets of players for an entertaining encounter.
The Bafana coach said on IOL: “What a game! It was a fantastic game from both teams, but the performance of South Africa was really, really good.
“We played against a very strong team, but I do not think there was much difference between the quality of our game and the quality of the game of Algeria. That means we have progressed in the last few months.”
Broos became the subject of interest from a number of teams after guiding Bafana to a third-placed finish at the Africa Cup of Nations in the Ivory Coast.
He was most recently linked with the Tunisia post but looks likely to remain in his current post as South Africa prepare for two crucial World Cup qualifiers with Nigeria and Zimbabwe in June.