Orlando Pirates captain Innocent Maela has predicted a bright future for two of his young teammates, midfielders Thalente Mbatha and Relebohile Mofokeng, who have just made the step up to international level.
Both players featured in Bafana Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers during the September FIFA calendar, as SA drew with Uganda at Orlando Stadium before they snatched a 95th-minute winner to beat hosts South Sudan on Tuesday.
Mbatha is 24, while Mofokeng is 19-years-old and will likely be part of the squad Bafana coach Hugo Broos selects for the next two qualifiers against Congo in October.
Maela sung the praises of two of his rising stars in the Bucs fold.
Relebogile Mofokeng is a special one. pic.twitter.com/5tKvcdeZSs
— An Alpha Bloke🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 (@KAY____GEE) September 6, 2024
‘They belong’
“We are so proud of them,” Maela said.
“My message to them is that this is the beginning, and they can look forward now with confidence and believe that they belong in the space.
“They must just keep on working hard and stay humble. Hopefully, they get to achieve many more caps and big things with the national team.”
Earlier this week, Broos said he believed his charges would be in far better shape for the upcoming clashes.
The reason for this Broos explained, was due to the late start of the Betway Premiership which only begins on Saturday.
“First of all, the big trouble we have is that our players didn’t play competitive games. Only 80% played pre-season friendly games,” said Broos.
“We are not sharp enough... This is not the same South Africa we knew from other games.
“The second thing: Individual mistakes can always happen. In the two games, we made mistakes.”