Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro believes teenage striker Relebohile Mofokeng is far from the finished article, but is certainly improving with every game.
The second season is often the hardest for any player, but thus far, Mofokeng has carried his form into the new campaign with goals against Disciples FC in the CAF Champions League, and again on Wednesday night in the MTN8 semi-final first-leg tie against Cape Town City.
The 19-year-old was calmness personified as he brought down a long-range pass before powering his strike past Darren Keet at the Cape Town Stadium.
Jaedin Rhodes then grabbed the equaliser for City.
Having been capped already at international level, Pirates starlet Mofokeng was once again included in Hugo Broos’ Bafana Bafana squad announced yesterday for the Afcon qualifiers against Uganda and South Sudan.
Riveiro feels Pirates are trying to create an environment that brings out the best in Mofokeng at this early stage of his career.
“Rele, like everybody else – especially our offensive players, our forwards – we try to play with their strength. 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 1-1 draw with City.
FT || @CapeTownCityFC 1 v 1 @orlandopirates
— Orlando Pirates (@orlandopirates) August 28, 2024
⚫️⚪️🔴⭐️
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“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.”
The Spaniard also stressed that the Buccaneers are trying to develop Mofokeng’s all-round game, and not just his prowess in front of goal.
“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,” he said.
“We all have the capacity to see how much he improved in the last year in every phase. He’s not only a player with the capacity to threaten, 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 duels as well, and that says a lot about his commitment.”
Pirates have the advantage of the away goal heading into tomorrow’s semi-final second leg at Orlando Stadium (3pm start), but Riveiro knows his team need to improve if they are to remain on track to complete a hat-trick of MTN8 titles.
☠️ ⏪️ 𝗬𝗔𝗗𝗛𝗖𝗧𝗔𝗠 ⏪️
🏆 #MTN8 1st Leg Semi-Final
🆚 @CapeTownCityFC
🏟 DHL Stadium
📅 28 August 2024
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“In the first half we had more control, (were) more clear (on) what to do. We suffered maybe ... It’s true that Cape Town saw the post two times in the first half, but it was more our mistakes than Cape Town creating,” he said.
“I think in the second half we lost control in the first 15 to 20 minutes until they scored – we couldn’t contain them.
“We were defending too low, not really doing what we wanted, and we couldn’t manage them until they scored.
“But I think even late in the game we had a couple of opportunities to get more advantage. It’s 1-1, and it’s going to be tight on Saturday.”