Excitement was palpable in the face of Orlando Pirates’ teenage sensation Relebohile Mofokeng when he made his international debut yesterday at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein during South Africa’s 3-1 win against Zimbabwe.
Mofokeng was introduced to replace Polokwane City’s Oswin Appollis in the late stages of the second half and the fans welcomed him with open arms as the stadium erupted when he came in and whenever he touched the ball.
The 19-year-old had an impressive 2023/2024 season with the Soweto Giants which saw them finishing second on the log and becoming back-to-back winners of the MTN 8 and the Nedbank Cup that they lifted at the beginning of the month thanks to his winning goal which saw the match ending 2-1 in their favour.
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos credited Ronwen Williams who is the national team captain for suggesting that they bring in Ratomo in the match. He said the captain approached him with the idea during the match and he welcomed it as he saw it as a good gesture.
“The captain came and said, ‘Coach, maybe for the last minutes Rele, what do you think?’. I said, ‘ok, good idea’, therefore, Rele came in. That shows again how that atmosphere is in this group. He did it, I think, a year ago with Veli. He came out five minutes before the end, and Veli came in, I think. So now today he came and said, Rele. That shows again how the atmosphere is and how these guys treat each other,” said the former Cameroon coach.
Broos commended the unity that has been displayed by his players and their ability to put their differences aside, adding that they have shown a great deal of friendship during the camp.
“I said it already, those are 23 friends. They’re not colleagues. If they can do [something] for someone, they can do it,” the coach concluded.
South Africa are now joint leaders of Group C and will continue with the World Cup qualifiers in March 2025 by welcoming Lesotho and that will be followed by a visit to Benin in the same month. We look to see if Rele will be part of that squad.
Written by Siphesihle Soni