Bafana Bafana left-back Samukele Kabini has opened up about his first goal for the team saying he didn’t expect to score.
Kabini, 22, has been part of the senior national team in recent years and even travelled with Bafana to their historic 2026 FIFA World Cup where they reached the second round for the first time. However he didn’t feature in any of the games at the vent held in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
New Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane had spoken about the Molde FK man needing a chance to play and gave him minutes in the 2027 AFCON qualifiers against Guinea at home and away against Eritrea. Kabini scored the winner in the 2-1 victory over the West Africans in group D and assisted one of the goals in the 5-0 drubbing of the East Africans in Cairo.
He told IDiski Times senior journalist Lorenz Köhler in edition 275 of the newspaper that his first instinct in the action was to pass the ball however ended up taking the shot himself.
“I was so excited, I won’t lie, I wasn’t expecting that to happen,” Kabini told IDiski Times.
“So when I scored, I was so excited, I couldn’t believe it. When Coach Pitso came in, he was like the best thing to do for the team to win, pass the ball to each other when you see angles are tight. You need to give it to your teammate in better positions or it’s easier for them to score.”
“So the best thing to do to help the team win is just to pass to each other and not be selfish. The reason before I shot, I looked up to see who’s coming and if I pass, will they get the ball or what.”
You can read Köhler’s full feature on Kabini’s rise in the national team in edition 275 when you subscribe to IDiski Times media WhatsApp number for FREE.