Katanec defends dismissal

Slovenia are out of the tournament

Slovenia coach Srecko Katanec said he had done nothing to deserve being sent from the bench during their disappointing defeat to South Africa.

"If the referee is honest, he will say what happened, because nothing happened," he said after their 1-0 loss in Daegu.

South Africa send Slovenia home

"There was no insulting on my part. I don't know why he sent me out.

"Coaches have to have the right to show their temperament"

But Katanec insists that his side gave all they could against Bafana Bafana.

"We may be out of the World Cup, but I am still proud of my players" he said.

Katanec was dismissed to the stand in the second half

"South Africa were no better than us but we don't have enough quality to compete with the top teams although we deserved our place here."

Katanec said the loss of Sebastjan Cimirotic and Aleksander Knavs during the game because of injury hurt his side.

It is not clear yet whether the pair will miss the final Group B game against Paraguay.

Katanec, who takes charge of Slovenia for the final time against Paraguay, is hoping his side will be competitive in their final game.

See South Africa's win in pictures

"We showed we are competitive - we were in the game against Spain until the last five minutes and we played good football today.

Reaction from the South Africa camp

"We will go into the last match with the same attitude as we want to win a game in our first World Cup."

Slovenia keeper Marko Simeunovic said his team-mates never found their rhythm.

"We fulfilled our dreams by qualifying for the World Cup. Now we have to sit down and analyse our mistakes and do better against Paraguay."