Being a Bafana Bafana fanatic isn't good for your health.
During the 90 or so minutes that it takes for a soccer game to be concluded, you suffer a near heart attack, your blood pressure shoots through the roof, your emotions swing - in simple terms, you're schizo.
If you watched on Sunday night, you'll identify with the symptoms. If you didn't, it was a healthy - albeit unpatriotic - move. On Sunday night we were tortured for 93 minutes.
It was probably the longest 93 minutes of a soccer fan's life.
Minute by minute we watched as the Malians offered us free soccer lessons. We threw our arms in the air as South African passes went off target. Every five minutes we sighed, kicked our tables and twitched in our seats as the Malians did what we thought Bafana Bafana would do.
We knew something like this was possible after we were held to unexpected draws by minnows Burkina Faso and Angola.
It was not possible, however, after that classic performance on Wednesday when we beat Morocco. Then we were on top of our game. On Sunday, we were nowhere near that.
It was all abundantly clear in the first minute, when Carlos Queiroz did the unthinkable - playing the squad that had failed to bring a result in the first two games.
Yes, he did bring on Nomvete from the start, but commonsense should have told him that, after the Udinese star's performance against Morocco, the Malians would plan their game around him.
We were nowhere in the midfield. Poor Thabo Mngomeni tried his best but didn't get any help from a hopelessly off-form Quinton Fortune or grandfather Eric Tinkler, who was obviously too slow for the young Malians. And herein lay our problems. Our midfield wasn't supplying the strikers.
Nerves also got to Mbulelo "Old John" Mabizela. After a good three games, he came apart, and should take the blame for the first goal.
All of this is a recipe for an unhealthy life. It's not that we wanted a win at all costs. Victory would have been good, but losing decently, after playing to the best of our ability, would have been acceptable.
Football is the religion of the majority in this country. If we want a healthy nation, we can't go to the World Cup with the same coach, technical team and players.
A soccer fan's life isn't different from a dog's life, but even a dog has its day.