Asamoah Gyan has praised Bafana Bafana for their 1-0 victory against the Black Stars in Wednesday's friendly.

South Africa scored the game's only goal after 42 minutes when Katlego Mphela struck a shot past Richard Kingson in goal for Ghana at Soccer City.

But Gyan, the Ghana stand-in captain who went close to leveling up in the second half before his substitution explained that the Black Stars looked stronger after the break but admitted that their first half showing handed the initiative to the 2010 World Cup host nation.

"I think we started the game very slow and the South Africans took control of the game in the first-half," the striker 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."