Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos says nobody is guaranteed a start in his squad but was pleased that Relebohile Mokokeng took his chance with both hands against Lesotho.
Mofokeng, 20, won the Man of the Match award on his first-ever start for the senior national team and netted the opener – which was his first goal in Bafana colours.
Jayden Adams scored the second, in also his first start for Bafana, which Broos duly noted as he discussed the duo taking their chance offered in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier as they moved top of Group C, two points ahead of Benin, who drew 2-2 to Zimbabwe yesterday.
“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 when asked by iDiski Times 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 is the right moment 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.”
Mofokeng will be aiming to earn another starting berth when Bafana take on Benin on Tuesday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
