‘With Rele, you can expect it a bit (the dip in form),’ said the Bafana head coach this week.
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos believes Relebohile Mofokeng’s dip in form is understandable, given the transfer speculation surrounding the Orlando Pirates forward.
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While his Pirates teammate Mohau Nkota moved to Al Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia, Mofokeng ended up staying at the Buccaneers, and has yet to hit the heights of previous seasons.
Broos on Pirates’ Mofokeng
Broos has still selected Mofokeng, however, in his Bafana squad for vital 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Rwanda later this month.
“With Rele, you can expect it a bit (the dip in form),” said Broos this week.
“There was interest from around the world. Every team ‘wanted’ Rele, then you had the feeling that people were (also) going around trying to sell him (off). This is not good for a player, in certain moments they are only thinking about that, and they cannot focus on football.
“But the qualities are still there and I will not drop him like that. He is with us and we will try to give him confidence again, and also talk with him. He must focus on football and forget the rest. It will come.”
Mofokeng’s form at Pirates contrasts with that of new signings Oswin Appollis and Tshepang Moremi. Appollis has been superb for the Buccaneers and Bafana while Moremi has also been called up by Broos on the back of a brilliant start to the season.
“He (Appollis) has had an enormous evolution in the first team at Pirates,” said Broos.
“He is getting better and better every week.
“Tshepang is in the condition of his life, scoring and assisting goals,” added the Bafana coach.
“He scores easily, has confidence and those are the players we need.”
Two wins out of two
Bafana will play Zimbabwe at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on October 10 and Rwanda at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on October 14.
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Two wins out of two may well be enough to qualify the team for the World Cup finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico next year.