Broos explains why he is likely to bench Rele Mofokeng against Benin

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Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos was full of praise for Relebohile Mofokeng after the youngster inspired South Africa to a 2-0 win over Lesotho on Friday.

Last week, the Bafana coach named the Orlando Pirates star in his 23-man squad which raised a few eyebrows. A few local soccer fans argue that Mofokeng did not deserve a call-up due to his poor form at club level. A day after the squad announcement, ‘President Yama 2000’ scored a brace against Mamelodi Sundowns.

Broos defended his decision to select Mofokeng, saying the youngster needed confidence and encouragement. On Friday, Mofokeng repaid his coach’s faith in him

“I think this game was the right moment 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 they can succeed,” Broos said after the Lesotho game as per iDiski Times.

“If he doesn’t, can you imagine he played a bad game, then everyone would say ‘ya, ya, ya maybe it’s too soon, maybe he’s not so good, blah, blah, blah’. So you have to help the player with that.

Broos praise Mofokeng and Jayden Adams

Although Broos praised both Mofokeng and Adams for their impact, he hinted that he might not start with them against Benin. Bafana travel to Ivory Coast to play the West African team on Tuesday int he World Cup qualifiers.

“I think I did that with Rele and I did that today with Jayden too, for me, Jayden also played a very good game – but this was also an opponent to do that. You can’t do that against Nigeria, or maybe for the first time, in Benin because those are different games.

“So I have to watch and see when is the right moment and then sometimes they don’t succeed then either – but today you see Rele, he had the confidence from my side and he confirmed it, so I’m very happy with that.”

It remains to be seen if Broos will pick Mofokeng ahead of Oswin Appollis for Tuesday’s match.