South Africa's campaign came to an end following a narrow 1-0 defeat to co-hosts Canada in Los Angeles on Sunday, denying Hugo Broos' side a place in the Round of 16.
Bafana had endured a difficult start to the tournament, opening with a 2-0 defeat to Mexico in a match where they finished with nine men. They responded with resilience, recovering from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Czechia before upsetting South Korea 1-0 to secure a historic place in the knockout stages.
However, their run was halted by Canada in a match Mntambo felt the team never truly imposed themselves.
"I think we underestimated them (Canada), I don't think the boys really showed up like they did against South Korea. When you look at today's game, too many turnovers in midfield, we were sloppy. We just didn't find our rhythm in the game," said the recently retired player on SABC 3.
"And look, a bitter pill to swallow, especially conceding towards the end of the match when we thought that was the critical phase of the game. You would have thought maybe they could have kept it solid and gone into extra time and then try to add more numbers going forward to get a goal. But it wasn't to be."
Despite the heartbreak, Mntambo singled out Mbokazi as one of South Africa's standout performers and believes the young defender has shown enough to attract interest from Europe.
"But I think from the game we can still take a lot of positives - Mbokazi being a standout performer," he added.
"I think he's been exceptional in this World Cup. He deserves everything that's coming his way. He showed that age is just a number, he can compete with the best in the world. I would love to see where his next destination is. It has to be in Europe most definitely. He's played extremely well," he added.
"He's got all the qualities to be one of the best defenders, not in the country, but in the world."
At just 20, Mbokazi's performances have emerged as one of the strongest takeaways from Bafana's breakthrough World Cup campaign, with attention now likely to shift toward what comes next in his club career.
