Bafana Bafana legend Doctor Khumalo believes Relebohile Mofokeng was exposed during South Africa’s Round of 16 exit at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
South Africa were eliminated after a 2–1 defeat to Cameroon, bowing out of the tournament at the knockout stage.
Mofokeng, who has impressed for Orlando Pirates, played a limited role during the group stages of the competition. The 21-year-old featured only as a substitute in the group-stage clash against Egypt and did not start any of Bafana Bafana’s earlier matches.
Despite that, he was surprisingly named in the starting line-up for the Round of 16 encounter against the physically imposing Indomitable Lions.
Khumalo believes head coach Hugo Broos mishandled the situation by failing to prepare the youngster adequately before throwing him into a high-pressure fixture.
“There was a lot of uncertainty in terms of the tactical approach. You don’t bring in three or four players that didn’t play in the group stages because there are factors that influence performance,” Khumalo said during an interview with Africa Five Side.
“First one is the mental factor, and then we talk about the social factor which is the second one. The social factor is me understanding you, trusting you and believing in you.”
Khumalo stressed that cohesion and trust are built progressively within a tournament and cannot simply be switched on at the knockout stages. “But the players he brought, yes, they might have been together in the national team, but you build into a stage of a certain group.”
He believes that if Broos intended to use Mofokeng in the Round of 16, the process should have started much earlier in the competition.
“From the group stages, if he knew that in the Round of 16, he was going to use Mofokeng. Then build his confidence within the group stages.”
Instead, Khumalo feels the youngster was exposed to a battle he was ill-equipped to win. “But you don’t just throw them in the lion’s den like he did. Look at Mofokeng’s stature, he’s just a skinny young boy like a mosquito versus those big elephants.”
Drawing from his own playing days, Khumalo explained that young, lightweight players require tactical protection at international level. “Secondly, he was not protected because, I’m saying this because when I used to play for South Africa, I was skinny like him, but the coach used to protect me.”
Khumalo said such players should be given clearly defined roles that allow them to influence the game without being dragged into physical contests. “The only thing I was told to do was being on the ball and forget about defending. Give him the opportunity to operate in the space that doesn’t have the physical contact because clearly, he’s going to lose the battle.”
