Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says he is pleased with how starlet Relebohile Mofokeng grabbed the opportunity with both hands and showed up against Lesotho on Friday night.
South Africa beat their neighbours 2-0 in the Group C Fifa World Cup qualifier match in front of a sold-out Peter Mokaba Stadium, in Polokwane.
This is courtesy of two second-half goals by Mofokeng and Jayden Adams, which propelled Bafana to the top of their group on 10 points after five matches.
Following a frustrating goalless first half, whatever Broos told his players at the break yielded the result as Bafana approached the second with determination.
Their effort paid off when Mofokeng slotted home a good pass from Elias Mokwane who sent the Lesotho defenders the wrong way before delivering a pass to Mofokeng, who made no mistake in the 60th minute.
Three minutes later, Adams put matters beyond doubt when he increased Bafana’s tally to 2-0 to give Bafana the much-deserved victory over a resilient Lesotho side.
Given that it was Mofokeng’s first goal in his first start for the senior national team, after the match, Broos expressed his delight about the performance of the Orlando Pirates’ rising star.
“You know I can tell nobody they are a regular [in] Bafana Bafana, we are 23, that’s the first thing; secondly I said also before, as a coach you have to see when is the right moment to bring in a player [into the starting line-up],” Broos said when asked if Mofokeng can now be considered a regular in the national team.
“I think this game was the right moment for Rele, he played a very good game, and this is what we need, when you put a young guy in the team, as a coach, you must always think they can succeed.
“If he doesn’t, can you imagine he played a bad game, then everyone would say ‘maybe it was too soon, maybe he is not so good enough’ and all those things. So, you must help the player with that.”
Broos also weighed in on the display of Adams, who was very instrumental in the middle of the park alongside Mamelodi Sundowns teammate Teboho Mokoena.
“Jayden also played a very good game – but this was also an opponent to do that. You can’t do that against Nigeria, or maybe for the first time, in Benin because those are different games.
“So, I have to watch and see when the right moment is, and then sometimes they don’t succeed then either – but today you see Rele had the confidence from my side and he confirmed it, so I’m very happy with that,” Broos added.
Bafana will now turn their attention on Benin, whom they will face with their confidence high on Tuesday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Benin played to a 2-2 draw against Zimbabwe on Thursday and currently sit at number two behind Bafana on eight points.
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