Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has issued his verdict on the perfomance of Relebohile Mofokeng, who scored his first goal for the national team in a win over Lesotho.
Broos' troops climbed to the top of Group C in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers with a 2-0 win over neighbours Lesotho at New Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday
Mofokeng had opened the scoring on the hour mark before Jayden Adams put the result beyond doubt with a second for South Africa just four minutes later.
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The 20-year-old Orlando Pirates starlet, who was also involved in creating the first goal, walked away with the Man of the Match award.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Broos said he felt it was the right time for Mofokeng to get his first start, but warned that the spot was not guaranteed.
"I cannot tell anyone that they are a regular [starter] in the Bafana Bafana squad. There are 23 players and that's the first," said Broos.
"Secondly, I said before that as a coach you have to see when is the right moment to bring a player and I think this game was the right game 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 that he can succeed.
When he doesn't succeed, imagine if 'Rele' had a bad game and everybody would start saying, 'Maybe it's too soon', maybe he's not so good, blah! blah!
"So, you have to help the player a little bit. I think I did that today [Friday] with Rele. Also, this was a good opponent (Lesotho) to do that, you can't do that against Nigeria or you can't do that for the first time in Benin because those are different games.
"From my side, I have to watch and see what is the right moment. But today, you saw Rele how he was so confident and he confirmed it. I'm very happy with it."
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Bafana now turn their attention to an away trip to Ivory Coast where they will play Benin on Tuesday evening. The match is scheduled to kick-off at 18:00.