2026 WCQ: Mofokeng not guaranteed Bafana start despite Lesotho goal – Broos
- Dennis Kegengo
- Mar 21
- 2 min read
Photo Credit - Bafana Bafana - South Africa.
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has discussed the performance of Relebohile Mofokeng in their hard-fought 2-0 FFA World Cup qualifying win against a stubborn Lesotho side at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on Friday.
According to the Belgian gaffer, the 20-year-old Mofokeng, who features for Orlando Pirates in South African league, will not be guaranteed a starting role in Bafana’s set up despite his goal and Man of the Match display against Likuena.
On his first-ever senior start, Mofokeng helped break the deadlock after 60 minutes of play before Jayden Adams scored the second, in also his first start for Bafana.
“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 XI],” Broos said as quoted by iDiski Times when asked if Mofokeng can now be considered as a regular for 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 have to always think they can succeed.
“If he doesn’t, can you imagine he played a bad game, then everyone would say ‘ya, ya, ya maybe it’s too soon, maybe he’s not so good, blah, blah, blah’. So you have to help the player with that.
“I think I did that with Rele and I did that today with Jayden too, for me, 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, he had the confidence from my side and he confirmed it, so I’m very happy with that.”
Bafana Bafana will travel to West Africa for their next assignment against Benin on Sunday.