Bafana Bafana attacker Relebohile Mofokeng has reacted to his side’s historic qualification for the knockout rounds at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, saying it was hard earned.
Mofokeng, 21, made his full World Cup debut in the 1-0 win over South Korea in the deciding Group A match in Monterey on Thursday, where he lasted 80 minutes and was replaced by Jayden Adams.
The win means Hugo Broos’ side finished second in the group with four points behind tournament co-hosts Mexico, who they lost to in the opener to. Bafana who came into the game against the Koreans sitting at the bottom of their pool, will now meet Canada in their first appearance in the second round of the competition.
Mofokeng expressed his pride in his teammates for the achievement after the game, saying they worked hard for it.
“Obviously, very proud of ourselves from the start we came here to obviously win,” said the Orlando Pirates star.
“It was a very difficult match, but we are very proud of ourselves, very proud of our country, because our country has been doing well. We have been doing well ever since from the start and from the qualifiers.
“So, I think we deserved it. We worked very hard for it, and you saw the mentality at our side. It was very difficult and yeah, I think we did very well and we will keep on fighting for this country.”
‘I’m Very Happy With The Gents’
Mofokeng added that going into the break with a clean sheet motivated Bafana to return and maintain that in the second half, whilst being persistent in the search for the important goal.
“Obviously, we are playing against the best teams, so I think we came here, obviously, to not concede, because the past two games we conceded the goals,” added Mofokeng.
“So, I thought if we don’t concede, we will probably get one goal, one chance, and then, yeah, I think we got many chances, and then we didn’t use them. But we got only one goal.
“I think it made us take three points and go to the next round. I’m thinking I’m very happy with the performance, I’m very happy with the with the gents.”