Pirates' Mofokeng leads Bafana to victory against Lesotho in Polokwane

PETER MOKABA STADIUM

SOUTH AFRICA (0) 2

Mofokeng 60, Adams 63

LESOTHO          0

COMETH the hour, cometh the man! Well, at 20 years of age, he is not a fully-fledged man yet. But in football terms, Relebohile Mofokeng has earned the respect to be called a man alright. His showings for Orlando Pirates this season have set him up as one of the campaign's shining stars.

At national team level he had shown potential as coach Hugo Broos carefully introduced him as a substitute. The South African football public had been calling for the youngster to be thrown into the deep end, "give him a start", they cried. Broos obliged them.

And Rele do not disappoint. The sold-out Peter Mokaba Stadium reverberated to drum beats and songs while glittering to cellphone lights as the "president of Ama2000" reigned supreme.

For almost an hour, Lesotho stubbornly held the dominant Bafana at bay. And it took Mofokeng's sweetly struck shot from close range to break that resistance after a superb solo and persistent run from the right flank by Elias Mokwana pierced Likoena's rearguard open.

That it was he who found the opener was not surprising, Mofokeng having had the most and best chances at scoring.

Just three minutes after the break Bafana had come close but Lyle Foster's shot smashed the inside of the upright and then incredulously tolled across the goal-Line instead of going in.

Then the darling of South African football fans - the youngster who is loved even by those who do not support Pirates at club level - had been a livewire in the initial stanza that Bafana dominated against an opponent that was always going to be content soaking up the pressure while looking to strike on the break.

Hugo Broos' men dictated terms and attacked more on the left with Fawaaz Basadien pushing high up from leftback to link up Mofokeng.

As early as the seventh minute, Rele sent the ball crashing into the sidenet before he shot straight at the goalkeeper from close range on the quarter-hour mark having created space for himself with a sublime pirouette to extricate himself from a marker.

There was an opportunity for Percy Tau on the 24th minute but the striker, who was making his return to the team after a year's absence, shot against the net having been gifted possession by Likoena's poor defensive work.

Arguably the closest Bafana came to scoring in the first half was in the 35th minute when Nkosinathi Sibisi's header from a corner kick was cleared off the line. Mofokeng then shot the loose ball straight at the Mountain Kingdom's number one goalkeeper.

Mofokeng eventually got his just rewards on the hour mark as Lesotho's stubborn resistance finally crumbled.

And almost immediately thereafter, Bafana were sending the capacity crowd into a frenzy when Jayden Adams made it 2-0 from close range.

The Mamelodi Sundowns player vindicated Broos' decision to call him back into the squad after the misdemeanor that had irked the Belgian so much he froze him out.

Broos never doubted the player's quality though and Adams showed just why, with the goal he scored here and his overall workfare, particularly in the first half.

There was still a lot of football to be played and hope sprang ertenal that Broos' men would treat them to a goalfest.

Tau should have at least made it 3-0 some five minutes before the end, but he blasted straight at the goalkeeper before smashing the rebound rugby style into row 16 on the second tier of the stands behind the goals.

But this 2026 World Cup qualifying match was all about the three points at stake and Bafana bagged them to take their tally for the campaign to 10 points at the halfway mark with five matches played.

More importantly is the fact that they now enjoy solitary leadership of Group C after Benin drew 2-2 with Zimbabwe and Rwanda lost 2-0 to Nigeria.

Next up is a clash away to Benin in neutral Ivory Coast on Tuesday and as Broos has been preaching before these matchdays, "we must get six on six".

Do that and the dream to return to the sport's biggest stage for the first time since we hosted it back in 2010, is that close to becoming real.

And surely, with the likes of Mofokeng and Adams stepping up as they did here last night - Siyaya e-USA, Canada and Mexico!