South Africa's players exited the World Cup with a mixture of pride and disappointment following a 2-1 win over France on Tuesday.

The bitter blow of becoming the first host to fail to advance from the first round was softened by victory over the former world champions, South Africa goalkeeper Moeneeb Josephs said.

"We are still disappointed," Josephs said. "If we look at the performance we put in there and look back ... we could have done this in the second game and made it much easier for ourselves."

"But then again we have to look on the brighter side and be proud of the way the guys put in the effort today, for the nation and for the people that were right behind us from the start."

Captain Aaron Mokoena said his team could take heart from its World Cup performance as it signed off with a victory.

"A draw, a loss and a win. I don't think it's a bad result," Mokoena said. "It's mixed feelings for everyone that we couldn't make it through, but there are so many positives we can take from this."

After his final game in charge of Bafana Bafana, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira described how South Africa President Jacob Zuma had visited the team in the dressing room and told the players he was happy with the result and that "life goes on."

"I believe that the whole country is proud," Parreira said. "We are disappointed but I told my players put your head up, this is not a failure.

"What the boys did for me in these seven months of preparation, I have to say to them thank you very much," an emotional Parreira said. "I'm so happy with this occasion."

Midfielder Steven Pienaar said South Africa — which eventually lost out to Mexico on goal difference for the second qualifying place in Group A — had believed it could reach the next round even after the devastating 3-0 loss to Uruguay in its last game.

"You can't say that we didn't give our best," he said. "We pushed from the first minute.

"With football we brought our nation together and showed that we are one country ... we have to be proud of the team."

But striker Katlego Mphela, who scored one of the goals against France at Free State Stadium and was man of the match, said he was still haunted by a missed chance against Mexico in the tournament's opening game two weeks ago.

"I'm still thinking about it and it's killing me," Mphela said in reference to his shot that hit the post in the dying minutes of the 1-1 draw at Soccer City on June 11.

If that shot had just been a few inches to the right, it would have been South Africa — and not Mexico — heading to the last 16, and Mphela said it will take him a while to get over the miss.

"It was a World Cup, the biggest event in the world," the 25-year-old forward said. "I guess I can't beat myself up about it. It was a chance, I missed it."

Koman Coulibaly, a World Cup referee, has been benched for the next round to the coveted tournament.

Coulibaly executed a controversial call, which denied a potential game-winning basked for the United States (US) soccer team.

The Malian official was left off a list of referees assigned by FIFA for the third round of World Cup matches. While nothing has been confirmed, reports speculate that Coulibaly will not be activated for the rest of the tournament. 

Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda, the FIFA official in charge of officiating, did not comment on the issue. He also did not say anything about the negated US goal against Slovenia in last Friday’s contest, which ended in a 2-2 draw.