Why Chiefs legend wants all-Pirates attack for Bafana at AFCON

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Why Chiefs legend wants all-Pirates attack for Bafana at AFCON

Former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brian Baloyi believes Bafana Bafana could benefit from having more of Orlando Pirates striker Evidence Makgopa in attack at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Coach Hugo Broos has been going with Lyle Foster as the main striker and Oswin Appollis as well as either Tshepang Moremi or Mohau Nkota on the wings with Sipho Mbule behind them in the No.10 role so far at AFCON.

Makgopa has come off the bench twice against Egypt and Zimbabwe but has not found the target while Foster has two goals so far.

Evidence Makgopa 2

However, Baloyi thinks given South Africa are playing with three Pirates players in attack, they could benefit from that understanding better if they had Magkopa playing upfront.

Why does Baloyi want Makgopa upfront?

“When you look at how they play when they have Makgopa, as much as Lyles has been getting the goals for us, I think sometimes he [Broos] has given him [Foster] too much time on the pitch and has not given Makgopa too much time,” Baloyi said on SoccerBeat.

“And sometimes it becomes a problem when he gets injured and the players sitting on the bench don’t have too much confidence because they have not been playing that much.

“If you look at the combination of midfielders that are primarily Pirates midfielders, when they have Makgopa, they know how to play off him and they understand the runs that he makes to open up space for them to go and that is why you see Appollis scoring too many goals at Pirates coming in late into the box.”

Evidence Makgopa
Evidence Makgopa

Mofokeng backed to start on the right wing

Baloyi also feels Bafana Bafana’s wingers, apart from Appollis, have so far not covered themselves in glory, saying the performances of Moremi, Nkota and Elias Mokwana have not been great, and he would like to see Relebohile Mofokeng fielded on the right going forward.

“None of them has done the business and I would say next game, I know Rele has not done much impact starting the matches. He always comes off the bench. I would say maybe take the chance and start him on the right side,” he added.

Bafana Bafana will learn their Round of 16 opponents on Wednesday night but it will be either Mozambique, Ivory Coast or Cameroon whoever finishes second in Group F.

<!-- Author Start -->Joel Oliver<!-- Author End -->

Joel Oliver

Author

Joel Oliver is a seasoned multimedia sports journalist with a rich background in covering diverse football stories and events in South Africa and beyond.
His extensive coverage spans subjects touching on the PSL, with a focus on the Big Three (Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs & Mamelodi Sundowns), Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana.

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