Teen sensation Relebohile Mofokeng once again showed his talent to the world when he played a starring role in Orlando Pirates’ 1-1 MTN8 draw against Cape Town City on Wednesday night.
The youngster, off the back of a massive breakout season that saw him earn his first international cap, was a constant threat out on the left side, and caused a few problems for the City defence.
He also put his team in front with a well-taken goal, and would have scored more had it not been for the experienced Darren Keet heroics in the City goal.
Relebohile Mofokeng 🤝 Fawaaz Basadien
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) August 29, 2024
How crucial will these away goals be this weekend in the #MTN8 semi-final second legs? 👀 pic.twitter.com/dGcY2s7Agw
Last season, Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro couldn’t stop talking about Mofokeng, and his faith was rewarded when the youngster scored a last minute winner in the Nedbank Cup final.
And with how Pirates have started the season, Riveiro can be forgiven for thinking he’s got the next big thing in South African football on his hands. Mofokeng was not only impressive going forward, he also tracked back and helped out in defence.
“Rele, like everybody else especially our offensive players, our forwards, we try to play with their strengths, we try to create spaces and scenarios where Rele can be Rele, where Rele can express himself as a football player and show the talent that he has,” Riveiro said after the encounter at the Cape Town Stadium.
“Like I said before talking about the collective, the process, the possibility to play very competitive games in the club, is giving Rele ... the opportunity to be more mature, to fulfil the spaces where maybe he is not top because you cannot be top in every department. But you can work to get close to that,” said the Spaniard.
“So when you go to the field, you try to show who you are – in the positive and negative, you don’t want to be seen as your deficits. So we try to help each and every individual in the team, Rele is not an exception.
“We all have the capacity the see how much he improved in the last year in every phase. He’s not only a player with the capacity to threat, capacity to eliminate, capacity to create chaos, he’s also a player who is helping us a lot in the defensive phase.
“He’s improving his capacity to win duals as well and that says a lot about his commitment.”
IOL Sport